


A Shifting World

by UselessReptileWrites



Series: Finding Another Way [1]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Post How to Train Your Dragon (2010), Dragonese (How to Train Your Dragon), F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Original Character Death(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2019-10-06 05:27:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17339417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UselessReptileWrites/pseuds/UselessReptileWrites
Summary: Things have been going great since Hiccup and Toothless defeated the Red Death. He has his father’s approval, a group of friends his own age, and is leading the integration of dragons and the Vikings of Berk. When neighboring tribes call together a meeting to discuss rumors of Vikings riding dragons, however, Stoick decides to keep their alliance with dragons under wraps. Hiccup must decide whether he should listen to his father or seek to teach the other Vikings of the archipelago the truth about dragons.





	1. A Message from Stoick

**Author's Note:**

> So, it's been long time, no write for this fandom, but recently inspiration struck and now I'm going to be working on an entire series for this. I hope this is to your liking!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup starts learning a new skill and looks forward to its application, but his good mood doesn’t last when Astrid gives him worrying news.

Most people would celebrate a beautiful and unusually warm morning on Berk by walking around wearing their light coats and only feeling moderately cold. Now that the dragons were living alongside them as friends and allies, many would take advantage of the nice weather by going for a flight that didn’t end with them becoming a vaguely Viking-shaped ice sculpture.

One might think Hiccup, being a dragon rider and one who was known to spend entire days in the air, landing only for food and sleep, might be among those lucky Vikings.

However, instead he was sitting in the cove in front of Toothless, trying his best to imitate what the Night Fury was saying.

It wasn’t because he suddenly woke up one day thinking he’d want to sound like a dragon. Rather Toothless had woken up one day shortly after his reawakening and decided that Hiccup should understand his language.

And so, every morning for a few months, they’d go out for a quick flight around the island, and then land in the cove so Toothless could point at things and make some draconic sound, and Hiccup would try and repeat it, to no avail.

At the very least, Hiccup consoled himself as he butchered another word in Dragonese, as he’d called the language, no one was in this part of the woods to witness his lessons. While it was cool and sometimes intimidating when dragons made these sounds, a human like him sounded like a small and talkative dog.

Toothless huffed, a sound that Hiccup assumed was no. Or it could’ve just been a sound of discouragement. While with other human languages the difference between a word and something like that was obvious, with dragons it was kind of hard to tell.

“Well, then, let’s see you do better,” Hiccup muttered. He rolled his eyes but couldn’t hide his grin, which didn’t really help his case.

Toothless repeated the same sound and gestured at the lake a few yards from where they sat with a paw. Quite the human gesture, but after a month or so after moving into Berk Village proper Hiccup wasn’t that surprised. After all, Toothless did learn to mimic human laughter a few months into their friendship, and rolling his eyes shortly after.

This had come back to bite Hiccup when Stoick first saw Toothless roll his eyes and immediately turned to give him a look of resignation as if to say, “You did this.”

Hiccup steeled himself and tried to repeat the word again. At the very least, he thought as Toothless made the sharp noise that Hiccup knew meant “No,” he was learning to recognize some of the Dragonese words. Not enough to understand full conversations, but if Toothless spoke really slowly and in simple phrases, Hiccup could get the gist of what he was trying to say.

Sometimes he could even understand some of what the other dragons on Berk was saying, and that was when his limited knowledge of the language proved a weakness. He wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to explain just why he’d suddenly burst out laughing when no Viking had said or done anything funny.

Toothless finally gave up trying to have Hiccup pronounce “lake” and was just moving on to a word that Hiccup thought meant “rock” when Hiccup heard footsteps behind him.

He turned around, heart rattling his ribs, and saw Astrid walking toward him, a puzzled expression on her face.

Hiccup tried to hide his blush, but from the prickling on his cheeks he wasn’t sure he was successful.

“Hi, Astrid,” he said, getting to his feet as she approached. How long had she been standing there?

Toothless crooned out a “Hello” as well, seemingly unbothered at the interruption.

“Oh, hey,” she said. She smiled slightly as she gave him a small wave. “I guessed you might be here. I haven't been seeing you and Toothless flying around as much recently.” Her forehead creased slightly, probably in concern. "Are you okay?"

“Yeah, sorry about that.” He let himself glance away as he rubbed the back of his head. Then, feeling as if he ought to explain, he said, “Toothless was just trying to teach me how to speak dragon.” He shrugged, finally meeting Astrid’s gaze. “As you can tell, it’s not really going well.”

Astrid tilted her head a fraction, her eyes lighting up with interest. “Wait, you’re learning to speak dragon?”

Hiccup nodded. “Yeah, I think Toothless is really sick of me having to guess what he wants.” He explained how a few months ago, Toothless had begun to get Hiccup’s attention and then, quite deliberately, make the corresponding sound in Dragonese until Hiccup realized what his dragon was trying to do. 

“Wow, that’s really quite amazing.” Astrid was fully smiling, and that really made the blue in her eyes look bright, just like the ocean when the sun began to rise. “You think Stormfly might be able to teach me?”

Hiccup nodded. “Of course!” In fact, he was surprised that the others hadn’t been mentioning similar things happening to them. The other dragons clearly could speak it, and it wasn’t as if he was the only person paying attention to them. He was surprised that Fishlegs hadn’t beaten him to it, in fact. “But I don’t think I’ll be much help. I might be able to understand a few words, but I have as much luck saying them as Toothless has speaking Norse.” And Hiccup had tried, after learning he wasn’t much of a Dragonese speaker. If possible, Toothless was worse at speaking Norse than he Dragonese.

“You’ll get there eventually,” Astrid said, and the way she said it made Hiccup believe her. Her eyes sparkled as she crossed her arms and added, “Bet Fishlegs will be begging you for lessons.”

Hiccup chuckled. “Only if Meatlug won’t teach him.” And he sincerely doubted she wouldn’t teach her rider. The two were as attached at the hip as he and Toothless were these days. He brushed some hair away from his eyes; it was getting kind of long, and almost time to cut before Gobber threatened to cut it for him. “I was thinking of talking to my Dad to see if we can get some sort of lessons going to teach others to speak it, too. It seems unfair that we ask the dragons to understand us and don’t repay the favor.”

 _“Yes,”_   Toothless said in Dragonese, and bumped his head under Hiccup’s hand.

“See?” Hiccup used his other hand to gesture at him. “Toothless agrees with me.”

Astrid nodded, but her face shifted into full seriousness. Hiccup immediately knew that something was up.

“Speaking of your dad,” she said, “he was looking for you.” She shrugged. “He was kind of busy, and asked me if I could find where you went. Lucky for me, I guessed you probably were at the cove, if anywhere on the island.” She brushed her bangs to the side. “It sounded important.”

Well, perhaps it was a good thing that he and Toothless had been out flying less nowadays.

“Did he seem upset?” Stoick had barely gotten upset at anything the last few months, but this sounded different than the normal, everyday catastrophes.

Astrid shook her head. “Just distracted, and kind of worried.”

“Uh oh.” Stoick, and Vikings at large, didn’t do worried, just varying degrees of anger. For them to look actually concerned meant something pretty dire was happening. “Guess I shouldn’t keep him waiting. Need a lift?”

Astrid shook her head. “Stormfly dropped me off near the edge of the cliffs. I shouldn’t have to walk too far to find her again, unless she decided to go look for a mirror. Again.”

Hiccup gave her a small salute in response. “Gotcha.” Hiccup didn’t even need to move toward Toothless to get on his back; the dragon had moved straight to his left side, which gave Hiccup the easiest way to get on. With his left leg now ending in a prosthesis, he had no ankle on that leg to turn to swivel himself into the proper position on the saddle. The adapted left stirrup required the prosthetic foot to be in just the right position to lock itself into place, which made getting onto Toothless left foot first a pain.

“I’ll see you later,” Hiccup said. “We meet up around early evening and I tell you just what’s got Dad ready to batten down the hatches?”

Astrid nodded. “Okay. The tallest catapult alright with you?”

Hiccup smiled. “That’ll be perfect. We’ll see you there.” He clicked Toothless’s tailfin open and nudged his sides, and with a few beats of his wings they were airborne, Astrid just a speck in a pale green depression amidst a sea of forest.

Seconds later, even that was hidden by the evergreens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for checking this out! I hope this chapter was a good start to this fanfiction.
> 
> So I've got this story mostly outlined, and a few chapters written up and ready to edit, but I'll be honest and say I won't have a regular update schedule. I don't want to let you down, and I never produced my best work while forcing myself to work on a deadline. But I'll do my best to finish this and the stories in the series following it, and to make what I do write enjoyable.
> 
> Also, if you wish to send an ask about this fic, series, or How to Train Your Dragon in general, I'm on Tumblr (at least for the time being; I'm looking into moving to another site in the future) at thanksfornothinguselessreptile.


	2. Out There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stoick has grim news from the other tribes, but he and Hiccup disagree about how to handle it.

To walk from the Cove to Berk ranged between thirty minutes and an hour, depending on weather and whether or not you were carrying a basket filled to the brim with fish.

To fly at Toothless’s usual pace as the crow flies, it was only three minutes, at most.

On the one hand, Hiccup wasn’t tearing himself up about what issue had his dad, of all Vikings, more concerned than an upcoming Gripe Day, and what had prompted him to call for Hiccup.

On the other, it didn’t really give him enough time to brace himself.

Despite the anxiety the situation caused, Hiccup still found it in himself to smile as Berk came into view. Even from this distance, he could see dragons, with and without riders, circling above the rooftops, over the trees, skimming the fog that still hung low over the ocean. It was always nice to see your village at peace and not rebuilding from a raid for the third time that month. Knowing that that was partially his doing made him feel warm inside.

Unfortunately, his house was among the closest to the forest, so he didn’t get a good look at all the new buildings that had sprung up since the Red Death’s defeat and the three months since he’d woken up from his injuries, which would’ve put him in a better mood. Instead, he and Toothless went to land in front of the house.

As they circled around to put themselves in the perfect angle to do so, though, movement caught Hiccup’s eye. Several Vikings were descending the stairs that led down from his house. As Toothless descended, Hiccup recognized the helmets of enough of them to see that they were among the Berk Council.

No wonder that Astrid had said his dad looked both concerned and busy. If he had the Berk Council gather in his house instead of the Great Hall or elsewhere in the village, then it was an official meeting deemed too important to risk villagers listening in.

“Well, this looks promising,” Hiccup told Toothless, keeping his voice low.

Despite the loud roar of wind, Toothless seemed to be able to hear enough to respond with a burbling, _“Yes.”_

Truly the epitome of conversation. Hiccup couldn’t wait to be able to understand more than simple words and phrases.

Toothless touched down on the patch of grass near the door with a bone-rattling thud. Hiccup made sure to click the tailfin closed before getting off of Toothless’s back; it was a bit of a squeeze for Toothless to get through doors, even those made for Viking chiefs, and he didn’t want to have to explain to Gobber that the nice tailfin he’d made had been bent out of shape if Toothless had gotten stuck and lashed his tail into something in the struggle to free himself.

That done, he could hesitate no longer, especially since his father probably had heard them touch down. He took a deep breath and stepped inside, holding the door open so Toothless could squeeze in after him.

His first observation was that Astrid had been right, and that Stoick was distracted and worried. He was stirring the fire way more than it needed, but his eyes were fixed on something beyond the fire. Which was great. Hiccup had known the last few months had been going too well, with no major catastrophes looming on the horizon.

“Hey, Dad,” Hiccup said, because just jumping into a “what’s wrong?” would probably be rude. “What’s wrong?”

Stoick set the poker aside and stood up. “I just received word from the other tribes.”

Hiccup swallowed as his mind thought of all the possibilities. “Well, that’s a once in a lifetime event.”

Stoick sighed and pinched his nose, and Hiccup knew that this issue was too serious for Stoick to remind him how serious this was.

“So?” Hiccup prompted. “What’s got them actually bothering to write?”

Stoick reached over to grab a rolled up stack of papers on the table. “They want to hold a Thing.”

Well, that was serious news indeed. Vikings only ever announced a Thing when they wanted to discuss a particularly grave matter that affected all the tribes, not just a few. Everyone would gather on a neutral island set aside for the purpose and meet to discuss the matter in peace. Naturally, as reclusive and distrustful of each other as the tribes were, to set aside their differences to discuss the issue at hand took something rather grave.

“Really? What for?” Hiccup could only imagine what had happened. Were Romans invading? Sea serpents raising their scaly heads? Ragnarok approaching? Trolls proven real?

Stoick sighed. “Well, for starters, they mentioned that dragons have stopped attacking, and are actually rare to see for them nowadays.”

Hiccup frowned. “That’s it?” That seemed rather anticlimactic for the reason for the Thing. Although, now that he thought about it, if your enemy attacked you so regularly you could time your weekly chores around their raids and then they suddenly all but vanished, you might start to get concerned about what had happened that had caused the sudden lull.

As well as the unfinished chores stacking up.

“Not just that.” He handed the stack of letters to Hiccup. As Hiccup unfurled them, revealing rather formal handwriting, Stoick continued to speak. “They’ve been paying closer attention on the rare occasions they do see dragons. Which leads to the main reason that they’re calling the Thing.”

Hiccup paused skimming the text as his stomach clenched. He suspected the reason, but he still had to ask his dad, “Which is?” Just so he was sure that he’d come to the right conclusion.

Stoick frowned. Well, frowned more than he had been since Hiccup had walked in. “Apparently, a few Vikings have spotted what they think is dragons carrying Vikings on their back. Willingly.”

Hiccup nodded. “Okay, so you want me to help prove to them that dragons mean them no harm.” It wasn’t going to be easy, especially without a giant, murderous dragon to prove that dragons wouldn’t attack humans on their own. Still, with almost all of Berk on friendly terms with dragons, perhaps it’d go easier this time.

Stoick shook his head. “No, son. Not this time.”

Hiccup frowned. “What?” In one ear Hiccup could hear Toothless asking the exact same thing, just in Dragonese.

“We are going to pretend we have no idea why the dragons aren’t attacking, and act as if we have no connection to them at all. Since rumors are all these are for the moment, we can make sure they stay that way.” Hiccup knew that when Stoick used that tone, there was no persuading him.

Well, almost no persuading him.

Didn’t he have to try?

“But, Dad,” he began, mind racing as he tried to put together a persuasive argument on the spot, “why?”

From what he could understand of Toothless’s rumbling, he knew that Toothless was asking a similar question. Maybe worded less gently.

Stoick sighed and rubbed a palm against the side of his head, probably wishing for ice to stave off an encroaching headache. “You had a difficult time telling this to Berk, remember?”

Toothless snorted; he probably wasn’t having good memories of that time.

“Yeah?” Hiccup tilted his head, trying to figure out why his father wouldn’t want to let all the Vikings know they were at peace. “It’d be hard, but I don’t mind if it helps the dragons.”

Stoick looked sorrowful as he shook his head. “If Berk was difficult enough to make come around, then how will you think convincing the others will go? Especially tribes like the Murderous?”

Well. He did have a point there.

“Not to mention,” Stoick continued, waving a hand as he started on his next point, “all the dragons willing to live among Vikings are already settled on Berk, and not willing to leave. And if the other dragons were itching to live with the other tribes, I’m sure we would’ve heard about this sooner.” Stoick shook his head as he seemed to envision what he was saying playing out. “If the other tribes learned we were home to all these dragons, including yours–” Stoick gestured at Toothless, who gave a displeased rumble in response “–and we weren’t willing to force them off our island or give some to them, it would look like we were stockpiling the beasts for our own use in, say, gathering more resources, claiming more islands.” He paused. “War.”

“But, Dad, if we prove they’re not violent–” Hiccup’s plea went ignored, as seemed to be the norm for this conversation.

“It does not matter to the other tribes if they are or they aren’t,” Stoick said, with the look of a man who had already made up his mind before their discussion had already started. “I know as well as you and your friends do that they mean no harm to us and to anyone else on the Archipelago, and that Berk has no will or reason to go to war.” He gestured at the far wall. “What matters right now is what they believe. And if they have reason to believe that we have a great advantage over them if we should want to take over, then that puts us and the dragons at risk.”

“But, Dad, what about the other dragons?” After all, not all dragons had felt comfortable living with humans, and instead had settled in other places around the Archipelago. They’d still be in danger if their paths crossed with the others tribes’.

Stoick shook his head. “Your concern for them is commendable, son, but you don’t give them as much credit as you should. They’re hardly defenseless, or reckless. They’ve survived for this long without going extinct, and that was when actively at war with us. They won’t go picking fights for no reason, and will stay out of them where possible. Trust them to look after themselves, and let us focus on protecting our own.” Stoick ran his hand over his beard, gaze panning past the walls of the house. “Do you understand?”

As much as Hiccup wanted to prove otherwise, his father had made some really good points. But while the conversation was far from over, and Hiccup was planning on thinking up a good rebuttal and making his father change his mind, he had no choice but to answer, “Yes, Dad.”

Stoick nodded once, a decisive shake of his head. “Good. And you aren’t to bring up dragons to anyone while we’re there.”

Hiccup blinked. “What?” He wasn’t sure if he understood that last implication properly, as surely he wasn’t old enough yet to go, right?

“You’re fifteen now, Hiccup,” Stoick said, as if Hiccup needed to be reminded.

“Technically, three and three quarters.” If Hiccup had to have been born on a leap day, then he wasn’t going to let anyone forget it.

Stoick rolled his eyes, more amused than annoyed. And he’d wondered where Hiccup had gotten that from. “By technicality.”

“A technicality that means I don’t have to go?” Hiccup tried his most persuasive smile.

Stoick just narrowed his eyes. “No, you’re still coming.” He waved his hands at Toothless. “And he’s not.”

Hiccup huffed. “You just gestured to all of him.”

Stoick nodded. “Yes. I’d better not see a single scale of his on that ship.” He raised his eyebrows as if daring Hiccup to say he would only bring half a scale, then.

“But who’ll take care of him while we’re gone?” Toothless, unlike other dragons, couldn’t just catch his own dinner. While there were discussions of feeding stations for dragons unwilling or unable to go out hunting, they were still in planning. He could ask Astrid to keep him fed, but she had her own life, between her friendship with Stormfly, being head of the fire brigade (a necessity even living peacefully with dragons), practicing her axe-work, and just general chores around her and her parents’ house.

The other teens could help as well, but Toothless didn’t know them so well. And in the twins’ case, Hiccup would be as likely to trust them to look after Toothless as he would trust them to guard a pasture of yaks without yaktipping.

“Gobber’s staying behind to keep an eye on the village while we’re gone.” Stoick’s face showed just how well he expected that to go. “Hopefully we come back to a village intact and not on a hunt for trolls. Gods help us all.” He sighed. “He’ll look after your dragon while we’re gone.”

Well, that was something, at least.

“So, now that that’s settled, I’m going to go and arrange patrols to make sure we don’t get caught off guard by any visitors.” Stoick moved toward the door, grabbing his helmet from where it hung off a rafter. “We’re very lucky the messenger handed this off to a fishing ship unaccompanied by a dragon and didn’t insist on handing it off to me themself. We can’t always be that fortunate.”

“And I’ll guess I’ll pack.” Hiccup shrugged. “When are we leaving?”

“In two weeks.” As Stoick arranged his helmet on his head just so, he turned to face him. “Oh, and don’t forget to come home for dinner again. I’m making eggs and bacon.”

Hiccup felt himself smile a bit. “Thanks, Dad.” His father knew that was his favorite, and always cooked some for special occasions, or if Stoick felt Hiccup needed cheering up. Ever since the Battle of the Red Death, they'd eaten so much of it Hiccup was sure whoever had sold his dad the ingredients had enough gold to buy their own fleet of fine ships.

Stoick nodded. “No problem.” And he was gone, stooping under the doorway so that his helmet’s horns wouldn’t catch on it.

As the door closed, leaving Hiccup in the relative gloom of a house lit only by firelight, Toothless stepped closer to him, making a concerned sound that Hiccup didn’t have to know the Dragonese for to understand as a question about if he was all right.

“Don’t worry, bud, I’m fine. And I’ll convince him that we can change the other tribes’ minds, you’ll see.” He hoped his smile conveyed the confidence he certainly wasn't feeling.


	3. To Do What's Right

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Snotlout meet to discuss Stoick’s decision, but six heads might not be better than one.

Hiccup had secretly hoped that he’d just be hanging out with Astrid, Toothless, and maybe Stormfly when they met up that evening. He’d break the news to her and they’d think of an alternative, and a way to convince Stoick that it was a better plan.

Life, however, never had worked the way Hiccup had planned.

Fishlegs had spotted them before Hiccup could suggest they go somewhere else to discuss what he and Stoick had discussed and had shouted something about finding something in the Book of Dragons. That had attracted Snotlout’s and the twins’ attention, and the next thing Hiccup knew what was supposed to be a quiet discussion had turned into an impromptu meeting.

“No offense, Hiccup, but your father is like the ultimate fun killer,” Tuffnut said as he leaned up against a beam that formed the catapult. An odd place for a meeting ordinarily, but it’d been all but abandoned after the war against dragons had ended, making it useless. And since this one was the tallest, and the furthest away from any point of interest, it was probably the most private place in the village. Hence why Astrid had suggested the spot earlier, and why they hadn’t changed their plans now, even when it was crowded with Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, the twins, Fishlegs, and Meatlug.

Ruffnut nodded, her face the definition of annoyed. “I know, right?” She waved a hand in the air as if expecting others to chime in in agreement. “Where’s his imagination? His sense of fun?”

“Uh, war doesn’t sound fun to me.” Fishlegs scratched Meatlug behind her ear. She nuzzled his shoulder in encouragement.

“What? War?” Tuffnut’s head lifted as if he’d just been slapped. “No, I was thinking more like pranking the other tribes.” A lazy smile spread across his face at the thought of pranks.

“You know, like convincing them your dragon’s a sea serpent, or using their gas to smoke up the outhouse.” She said this as if this was something everyone thought about every day but took for granted. 

“This is serious.” Astrid leaned forward on her seat, her eyes boring into everyone sitting in the circle.

“I don’t see why we’re even talking about this.” Snotlout shook his head, an irritated grimace on his face. “First off, Stoick’s got his mind made up, so there’s no point in trying to change it. Second, I’m all for not having a war for once in our lives, so why go begging for another?”

“This isn’t just about us,” Astrid said. She rested her elbows on her knees and leaned toward Snotlout. “What about the dragons who don’t stay with us? All the Stormflies, the Toothlesses, the Barfs and Belches, the Hookfangs?” She stressed the last name, her eyes narrowed even further.

“Look, I’m not saying that the other tribes killing them isn’t wrong.” Snotlout straightened up, pointing a finger at the sky. “But if we stick our necks out for dragons who don’t want our help and are foolish enough to let themselves be caught by the other tribes, then our Stormflies, Toothlesses, Barfs and Belches, and Hookfangs will find themselves the prizes of some hunter’s collection!” He glanced over at Meatlug and Fishlegs. “And especially our Meatlugs.”

Both Fishlegs and Meatlug shuddered.

“Harsh, Snotlout, harsh,” Ruffnut said, drawling the words as if watching a play she wasn’t completely invested in.

“Enough, Snotlout.” Hiccup hid the wince at the look Snotlout gave him and continued speaking. “I don’t want our dragons getting caught up in this either, but we can’t just do nothing to help the other dragons when we’re able to do something for them.”

“You know, maybe we can try and convince them to come live on Berk.” Fishlegs was stroking Meatlug’s side as if trying to comfort her and not himself. “I mean, we’ve got forests and caves and things. What do other places have that we don’t?”

While Hiccup certainly wouldn’t mind seeing more dragons, it wasn’t the plan he was looking for. “That’s not the answer either. They’re staying away for a reason, and I don’t want to force them into a situation they don’t want to be in. Besides, they should have the freedom to live where they wish, on Berk or elsewhere.”

“Besides,” Astrid added, “where would we keep all these dragons? We’re already bursting at the seams with dragons ourselves.”

“We need a compromise that’ll keep dragons safe and happy while allowing the other tribes to live comfortably without killing anyone.” If only coming up with it would be as easy as saying it.

“Like what?” Snotlout gestured at Hiccup, as if waiting for him to start rambling about this plan he hadn’t shared this whole time. “Any ideas? No?” He leaned back, putting his arms behind his head. “Then we stick to the one we’ve got that might actually keep us safe.”

“Perhaps if we start with one or two of the more reasonable tribes?” Fishlegs asked.

Astrid shook her head. “If one Viking among them decides they don’t trust the dragons and tells the other tribes, we’re still going to be in trouble.”

“What if we paint the dragons like sheep?” Tuffnut threw open his arms, as if welcoming either laughter or applause.

Ruffnut rolled her eyes. “Dragons have wings.”

“Oh.” Tuffnut placed a finger on his chin. “I didn’t think of that.”

“So obviously, we can’t paint them like sheep.” She gave the group a lopsided mischievous grin. “But pigs, on the other hand…”

“No one is painting dragons,” Hiccup said, seeing no one else was willing to stop watching the horror that was the twins’ “plan.”

Tuffnut crossed his arms, a pout on his face. “Looks like someone’s a chip off the old block when it comes to fun-ruining.”

“If ‘fun-ruining’ means we get to live longer, he can be a fun-ruiner all he wants.” Snotlout snorted and crossed his arms over his chest, clearly being done with the conversation now that he’d said his piece.

Not the nicest support Hiccup had ever received, but it seemed like the twins had dropped the dragon painting idea.

And it looked like he, too, would have to drop proposing his idea, at least for now. If he wanted his dad and friends to see that there was a way other than pretending that they didn’t know that dragons were peaceful.

It was kind of irritating because these people had seen the Red Death and how the dragons stopped raiding once she was out of the picture. They knew what years without peace between the two had done. And, knowing that, they still wanted to prolong the state of war between dragons and all Vikings that didn’t live on Berk?

But he hid the stress the best he could, and squashed the impulse to huff and roll his eyes. That wouldn’t do anything to solve this problem. He just had to think around it.

And he had a full two weeks to think of it. He’d had much shorter time to think of a plan to deal with the Red Death, and that worked out sort of okay, right?

Okay, it ended up with Fishlegs and Meatlug crashing, Astrid and Snotlout falling off their dragons, him losing a leg, and the twins with a whole new appreciation for destruction and the means to create more.

He realized that he’d sort of tuned out on his friends, and that they were discussing something without him.

“Wow, really?” Fishlegs held his hands up to his face at whatever Astrid had said and turned to Hiccup. “Is it true?”

Well, this was going to be embarrassing. “Oh, uh, sorry, I kind of spaced out a little there. What were you saying?” He gave his most embarrassed grin, trying to ignore the embarrassment eating at his stomach.

“I told everyone about Toothless teaching you Dragonese.” Astrid was smiling, but she was staring at him as if she was a doctor who’d diagnosed him with the plague and was expecting him to keel over from it at any second.

Hiccup nodded. He let himself relax as he told them what he’d told her earlier that day, about how Toothless was teaching him but progress was slow going, and his idea of having all of Berk learn it.

Ruffnut immediately perked up. “Imagine if we could get Barf and Belch to eavesdrop on people for us!”

Tuffnut almost cackled as he rubbed his hands together, clearly caught by the idea. “And all the juicy secrets we could get from that, and no one would ever know how we learned them.”

Astrid met Hiccup’s eyes and shook her head in both resignation and amusement before turning back to them. “If all of Berk knew Dragonese, they’d know Barf and Belch told you.”

“And while Zipplebacks are stealthy, they are still big dragons,” Fishlegs added, finger in the air. His eyes had brightened at the talk of Dragonese, and dragons in general. “They are quite, well, large and noticeable.” He bit his lip. “And yours keeps fighting between themselves, so they kind of attract a lot of attention anyways.”

That was true. Hiccup could always tell if a Zippleback was Barf and Belch from dragons with similar coloration and patterns if they were arguing, snapping at each other and screaming at each other. One time they’d passed through the town square, shouting nothing but _“You! No, you!”_ at each other in Dragonese, and not noticing the Vikings and smaller dragons diving out of their path.

Then, of course, since living in the Archipelago required heaps of stubbornness and pride, everyone just brushed themselves off and acted like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Ruffnut shrugged. “You never know unless you try.”

The conversation eventually turned away from how to change the archipelago to discussions about where they and their dragons had flown that everyone should totally go check out, what the latest complaints from Mildew were (and how unreasonable he was being about them merely flying over his cabbage fields), and other such mundane stuff.

Hiccup wished he could enjoy it more; there used to be a time where he could hardly imagine having friends like these.

The sooner he got a plan made up, the better.


	4. Goodbyes and Departures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup makes a promise to his best friend. Meanwhile, the twins are the twins and Mildew is Mildew.

“You guys are all so lucky,” Tuffnut said as he shook his head at the nearest ship. “You all get to go to the Thing and we don’t.”

“I’d kill for the opportunity to go.” The scariest thing about that statement, Hiccup decided, was that Ruffnut sounded like she genuinely meant it. “The Thing is the prime pranking opportunity, and none of you are going to take advantage of it!”

“We’ll keep that in mind, I promise,” Hiccup said. He found himself regretting that the twins wouldn’t be coming along, even if it cut down the risk of other tribes declaring war on Berk due to missing beards and painted helmets.

Still, with a whole village to terrorize and no one else in their friend group around to entertain them or hold them back, Hiccup was sure that the missed opportunity would soon be a long distant regret.

Luckily enough for Hiccup, if not for Berk, it turned out that many of his friends were coming along, too. Astrid’s mother, Phlegma, was among the Berk Council, as was Spitelout, Snotlout’s father; both had decided their children ought to come along and get a better understanding of the other tribes. Fishlegs, while he had a mother who was aboard their ship as a sailor, had been chosen to come because Stoick believed he could have potential as a future ambassador of Berk.

Beyond them, all of the Berk Council were going as well. Well, all except for one, who was heading this way with a frown.

Hiccup was suddenly very aware that the twins had seemed to have vanished into thin air. They must’ve pranked Gobber somewhat recently, then.

“Ah, Toothless, there you are!” Gobber said as he wagged the wooden hand cutout attached to his prosthetic arm attachment as he prepared a lecture. “Remember that you aren’t going on this trip, you sneaky reptile.”

Toothless grumbled in irritation and glanced over at Hiccup as if asking him to reverse the decision.

“Sorry, bud,” he said instead, and gave Toothless an apologetic smile. “You know that Dad would kill me if I smuggled you aboard.” And anyways, even if he did go through with showing the other tribes that dragons weren’t inherently violent and were actually amazing, intelligent beings who were willing to live in peace if humans were, he wanted Toothless here, safe, if things went wrong. Again.

Toothless snorted and shook his head, his pupils narrowing slightly.

“Don’t worry, bud, it won’t be for forever.” If Gobber wasn’t there, Hiccup would have told him he’d try and make it so he could go to the next one, too. However, Gobber was still there, listening. He wouldn’t exactly be the sort that would keep quiet if Hiccup started making plans to go against his father’s and chief’s wishes behind his back.

_“Yes,”_  Toothless said with a disgruntled huff.  

Hiccup could understand why. He wasn’t too happy about having to leave his best friend either.

Anything else he had to say, however, was swallowed up by a loud yell several feet away.

“I’m telling you, Stoick, this must be a sign from the gods to give up this unholy alliance with the beasts.” Hiccup had heard that voice enough times since after the Battle of the Red Death that he frowned and prepared to sigh with exasperation even before properly recognizing its owner.

Just as there were dragons too affected by the years of conflict to want to move onto Berk, there were Vikings who resisted the peace with the dragons with their heels dug into the ground. But where dragons were happy enough to avoid Berk, Mildew had decided to make his “opinion” everyone’s problem.

And especially Hiccup’s and Stoick’s.

“If the other tribes catch wind of us ‘befriending’ these monsters–” Mildew swung his staff straight toward a nearby Monstrous Nightmare who’d just dropped off a pallet of supply crates tied into groups with fishnet, ignoring their filthy look “–then we might as well kiss our lives goodbye!”

Stoick, half turned toward Mildew and half toward the freshly delivered stack of supplies, rubbed at his head in a way that told Hiccup that he was sensing an oncoming headache. “You’ve already brought this up. For sixteen Gripe Days in a row.”

“And you wouldn’t listen!” Hiccup winced as the vibrations of the resulting slam of the staff end into the wooden dock made their way up his prosthesis. “But now that the other tribes have come knocking, maybe you’ll finally care!”

Stoick cast Mildew a glare so sharp Hiccup almost expected to result in Mildew bursting into flames without a dragon’s intervention. Unfortunately for all of Berk, it didn’t. “Enough, Mildew. I am sticking to the answer I’ve given you every time before. We are not driving the dragons away.”

Mildew’s voice dropped just a fraction, and turned even more bitter and accusing. “Is it something you’re willing to bet the whole village’s lives on?”

“I assure you,” Stoick said, his voice unyielding, “I have the village’s best interests on my mind. And, like it or not, that includes yours.”

“Besides,” Gobber said, walking from beside Hiccup up to Mildew, “is right before Stoick’s about to leave to ensure we continue living in peace really the time to bring this up? Especially since he heard it before?”

Mildew snorted, sounding for all the world like a particularly stubborn sheep not unlike the one that often followed him around.

“I thought so. Now I suggest you go back and tend to your cabbages, unless you want to help load up the ship.” Gobber used his hand prosthesis to gesture at the supplies.

With one last scowl and “Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you,” Mildew stormed off the docks, staff tapping each wooden board along the way.

“Thanks, Gobber,” Stoick said, sounding more relieved than he’d been since the announcement of the Thing.

Gobber shrugged. “Eh, I’ll just add it to list of stuff you’ll owe me for while you’re gone.” He shuddered overdramatically. “Including the Gripe Days you’ll be missing. Not looking forward to those, I’m telling you!”

Stoick laughed and shook his head. “It makes dealing with the other chiefs seem like a picnic.”

Hiccup and Toothless walked toward them. “Can’t you do something about his attitude problem?”

Stoick frowned and sighed. “He gets under my skin as much as yours, son, but I’m afraid I can’t.”

“What does he have against them, anyways?” He leaned over to pat Toothless’s side, to calm himself and his dragon. “They hardly attacked his farm.” Cabbage, to no one’s surprise, was hardly a dragon’s preferred delicacy. In fact, they seemed to avoid them more often than most other crops.

Gobber and Stoick shared a solemn look.

“You see, years ago he set his farm up there,” Gobber said, sounding like he was getting into a long story that had no happy ending. “No one particularly minded, given he was always that… well, Mildewy, for the lack of a better word.” He shrugged. “And he married a woman who was just as grumpy as he was, and they had kids who took after the both of them.”

If Gobber and Stoick hadn’t looked so serious, Hiccup would’ve shuddered at the thought of a family of Mildews.

“They all seemed happy, though, and they kept mostly to themselves, so everything was fine.” Stoick shook his head. “And then, one day, his wife and children were picking up supplies in town when a dragon raid hit.”

“It was the worst in decades.” Gobber bit his lip. “Our best could hardly keep up defending the town from the dragons.” He sighed and shook his head. “By the time dawn came and they retreated, so many had died, even those who hadn’t fought.”

“Including Mildew’s family.” Hiccup never thought he’d feel anything regarding sympathy for the man, but then again he’d always summed his irritability up to stubbornness beyond the usual Viking levels.

“And that wasn’t the end of it.” Stoick’s tone caused Hiccup to brace himself. “Mildew somehow got it into his head that we let them die intentionally because no one liked them.”

“Well, no one did like them,” Gobber jumped in with a conciliatory tone. “But no one hated them that much,” he added when Stoick glared at him.

“Everyone kind of understood that it was mostly the grief talking, and things kind of died down after a while.” Stoick stroked his beard. “And eventually he ended up taking another wife.”

“And that’s when a dragon came to his farm and burnt it to a crisp.” Gobber shook his head. “Mildew escaped. Not his wife.”

“And after he got over that, he married another woman. She was from the Northlander Tribe, I believe.” He glanced at Gobber as if to confirm.

Gobber nodded. “Aye. And I bet you can get what happened to her.”

Hiccup’s stomach clenched. “I’m guessing not a peaceful death by old age.”

“After that, he became obsessed with killing dragons.” Stoick stroked his beard, lost in thought.

“Not himself, of course.” Gobber shrugged a single shoulder. “Let’s just say he chose to keep a farm far from the raids for a reason. But he bought dragon parts off those who did kill them. Bones, scales, heads, the lot.”

Toothless made a nervous sound, and Hiccup reached over to scratch him under the ears in an attempt at reassurance. “Don’t worry, bud. No one’s getting your head.”

“He was always advocating for crueler ways of killing them off entirely, not just driving them off our land for good.” Stoick frowned. “In any case, any intention he had of making his peace with them died with his wives and children.”

“But now we can make sure that no one else has to go through that.” Hiccup knew that losing family to dragons hurt; he’d lost his own mother to a dragon when he was a baby, and that had definitely stung after finding out that it was the Red Death’s fault. Still, he couldn’t imagine preferring being at war with dragons to the peace they had now over it.

“I know, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.” Stoick placed a hand on Hiccup’s shoulder, being careful not to knock him over. “However, he’s been bitter since the day he was born, and circumstances only made him worse. When you’re chief, you’ll have to deal with worse than the likes of him.”

Hiccup resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Encouraging pep talk, Dad.”

Stoick shook his head and laughed, and the somber tone the conversation had taken seemed to disperse like that. “Next time, I’ll let it surprise you.” He glanced around the docks and the ship, scanning everything. “Well, it looks to me like we’re just about ready to set out here. You get on the ship and I’ll get the loose ends tied up.” With that, he walked off.

Hiccup turned back to Toothless. “Well, I guess it’s time to say goodbye, bud.”

Toothless warbled in a very unenthusiastic tone.

“I promise I’ll be back, with a whole new bunch of stories to tell you.” A gathering of Viking chiefs was certainly never boring, as Stoick had often been inclined to share. “I’m sure you will too, since the twins are staying behind.”

At that, Toothless snorted and rolled his eyes.

Hiccup couldn’t help but smile at that. “You never know, you might have too much fun watching them get in trouble to even notice I’m gone.”

Toothless snorted and shook his head. He didn’t sound particularly convinced.

“It’s just for a few weeks, I promise.” Hiccup held out an open hand. Toothless stared at it and hesitated, then leaned his head over until his nose met Hiccup’s palm. “Take care while I’m gone.” He let himself give his best friend a crooked, mischievous smile and wagged a finger at him in warning. “And no helping Ruff and Tuff with their pranks, alright?”

Toothless seemed to raise the draconic equivalent of an eyebrow, but nodded.  _“Yes.”_

With that, Hiccup forced himself up the gangplank and looked for a place to sit. It was going to be a long journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How's everyone enjoying this so far? I hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I enjoy writing it!


	5. Familiar Faces in Unfamiliar Places

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shortly after leaving Berk, the ship runs into unexpected friends who come bearing news that both Stoick and Hiccup are interested to hear.

It was hardly two hours after setting sail from Berk when they came across another ship. According to the sail, it was one of theirs, and it was heading straight toward them.

“They’re flagging us down,” Fishlegs said as he lowered the spyglass from his eye. He was on watch duty at the moment.

“Who’s on it?” Stoick walked up from the stern of the ship, already scanning the horizon Fishlegs was facing.

Fishlegs fumbled to raise the glass again and squinted toward the shape just barely visible on the horizon. “Uh, looks like Agnar. And I think I see Starkard?” He shrugged.

“You probably did.” Stoick turned to Phlegma, who was at the rudder. “Take us to port.”

The deck was suddenly a flurry of activity as the older, more experienced Vikings were pulling at ropes and adjusting the sail. Hiccup did his very best to stay far out of their way. Despite the fact that this ship was longer than the standard ones, he soon found out that by stepping out of one sailor’s path, he stumbled into at least three others’.

He soon found himself cornered over near Fishlegs. He didn’t seem to notice Hiccup, instead alternating between looking at the ship with and without the spyglass.

“Hey, Fishlegs,” he said, since they were likely going to be hanging out in the corner of the ship for a while. “What’s up?”

Fishlegs shrugged. “Nothing much. Oh, wait!” His eyes flashed open with sudden excitement as something in the air caught his attention. “There’s that Zippleback again!”

Hiccup followed his gaze up, just in time to see a dragon tail slip into a giant cloud over the ship. Hiccup was surprised that Fishlegs had been able to identify a dragon so fast when the distance had made it seem smaller than an ant.

“A Zippleback?” It was kind of weird to see them fly so high, though not unheard of; they were much more likely to skim treetops or the houses of Berk than go flying through clouds, even those as low as these ones seemed to be. If they flew so high, it was often because their rider wished to.

A thought struck him.

“Are you sure this one doesn’t have riders?” He kept his voice low, hoping that Fishlegs would get the hint from how quietly he whispered.

Fishlegs frowned. “I don’t think so, but it is kind of far away to tell.” He swallowed, his gaze flitting over to a sea stack in the distance. “You think the twins are following us?”

Despite how quietly Fishlegs had asked, Hiccup still found himself checking to make sure that no one had heard him. The Vikings were all bustling with their tasks, and no one had stopped with a panicked look on their face, so he was pretty sure their commotion had covered up their conversation.

“Sorry,” Fishlegs whispered as he held a hand over his mouth.

Hiccup shook his head. “Nah, I think we’re good.” He glanced around again. While the activity was winding down as they changed course, the deck tilting under their feet, everyone still seemed distracted with the approaching ship. “But are you sure the Zippleback you’re seeing isn’t Barf and Belch?”

Fishlegs tilted his head, and shrugged.

“I don’t know.” He scratched at his head self-consciously, but stopped when that nearly pushed his helmet into the sea. “The lighting isn’t good enough to get a good look at its colors, and they fly too far up to get a good look at any identifiers, or tell if they have riders.” He started to fiddle with his fingers. “What do we do if they are?”

Hiccup thought. “I’m not sure if we can do anything.” If they told Stoick, he could do nothing; they’d left all their dragons at Berk, so they couldn’t fly up to check, or tell Ruffnut and Tuffnut to leave. They could always try signaling them down, or to go back. However, if the twins could even see the signal, they definitely would ignore it. Barf and Belch might be able to see it, since dragons had better eyesight. The thing was that as Hiccup had learned Dragonese, he also grew to understand that the Zippleback was uncannily similar to their riders. Even if they saw the signal Ruffnut and Tuffnut might miss, they’d ignore it too.

“Oh, Thor.” Fishlegs clutched at his helmet.

Hiccup placed a hand on Fishlegs’s shoulder to get his attention. “Take it easy, it might not be them.” There was no proof that it was, at the moment. “If you see them again, try and get a good look. Hey, who knows?” Hiccup shrugged and hoped he gave Fishlegs an encouraging smile rather than a tense grimace. “Maybe they’re just a dragon considering moving to Berk.” It hadn’t been the first time a dragon had hung back and observed Hooligans before approaching them. There was still suspicion about humans’ intentions among the unaffiliated dragons. Hiccup couldn’t blame them.

Fishlegs nodded, his breathing becoming less rapid as the idea sank in. “Yeah. Yeah, that could be.”

“So until we’re confident that it’s them, don’t panic.” No need to make a big deal out of something that might not be an issue.

Fishlegs nodded, seemingly more calm, and then glanced at where Stoick stood at the bow of the ship. “Should we tell the Chief?”

Hiccup considered. If Stoick should find out that they suspected that Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Barf, and Belch were secretly following them and kept quiet, he would probably burst into flames. But then again, this could also be a false alarm, and if they went to him with it anyways at best could give Stoick more to worry about than he already had.

And on top of that, he could assume that the twins and their dragons had followed and assign them punishments when they came back. And if they learned that it was Fishlegs’s and Hiccup’s fault…

It would tear a rift in their friendship, as well as the others’ friendships.

“We should keep quiet until we’re sure that these are Ruffnut and Tuffnut,” Hiccup said. “There’s no need to upset Dad if we’re not sure if this is Barf and Belch you’re seeing.”

Fishlegs nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Anything else Hiccup might have had to add was cut off by them pulling up to the fishing ship.

“Chief! I’m glad we caught you!” Starkard waved at Stoick as the sailors aboard the two ships began to lash their boats together so that they wouldn’t damage each other while being close enough to communicate.

“You certainly cut it close.” Stoick helped tighten a knot Snotlout was struggling with. “What’s going on? I thought you’d be in the Summer Current.”

“Aye, Chief, we were.” Starkard stroked his beard. “But the storm the other day swept us off course.”

“All the way to Serpent’s Heart,” Agnar added from over Starkard’s shoulder.

“But that isn’t what we were wanting to tell you.” Starkard’s face grew somber. “After the storm passed, we were lost for some time trying to get back to the current. And we stumbled across the wreckage of a ship.”

Stoick frowned. “What tribe?”

Hiccup internally groaned. From what he gathered, tensions between the tribes were usually high. Certainly the rumors of Vikings riding dragons wouldn’t help. But if Berk came to the Thing bearing news of a wrecked ship, even if the other tribes believed that they had nothing to do with it that would hardly start the meeting off on the right foot.

And Hiccup needed all the other tribes to be as open as possible to introduce the concept of a world where they didn’t need to kill dragons.

Starkard shrugged. “Couldn’t tell you. The sail had already sunk.”

“Then let us hope that it was a merchant, or Outcast, or some other unaffiliated group.” Phlegma’s voice was blunt, but not dismissive or rude.

“What sank it?” Spitelout asked.

Starkard and Agnar glanced at each other, and then their gazes caught on Hiccup, their eyes filled with pity.

“A dragon,” Starkard said.

Hiccup felt like the time around him and him alone had frozen, because while everyone else reacted, he didn’t even feel his next heartbeat.

“We’re not completely certain,” Starkard added, though he didn’t sound completely sold on that fact. “But there were a lot of claw marks on the wood left floating.”

“Everywhere you could leave a claw mark, if you were a dragon.” Agnar adjusted the rim of his helmet. “No fire, though.”

Hiccup finally forced himself out of his shock to meet Fishlegs’s gaze. His friend looked as shocked as he was.

“Tidal Class, most likely,” Fishlegs whispered, although he didn’t really need to; given the environment and the lack of fire, that was the most likely kind of dragon a ship could encounter.

“But why would a dragon attack a ship?” Hiccup internally winced as the entire Berk Council turned to face him, along with his father himself. “The Red Death is gone, and we haven’t seen signs of any other dragon stepping into her role.”

Stoick nodded, and Hiccup felt less tense as he turned back to Starkard. “Are there any signs that a dragon destroyed the ship and didn’t just come across the wreckage?”

Starkard shrugged. “It’s hard to say. But it’s the strangest thing, Chief.” He scratched at his beard. “There were claw marks everywhere you looked on the wreckage, but I don’t think that’s what broke the ship. It’s like the ship…” He shrugged. “Just fell apart.”

Hiccup glanced at Fishlegs, who had scrunched his face up in thought. If anyone could put together the clues, it was him.

“A Tidal Class dragon, makes ships shake apart…” Fishlegs closed his eyes as he muttered. He shrugged. “Could be a Thunderdrum, or a Mudraker.”

Stoick nodded. “Well, keep your eyes out, then, and steer clear of any dragons you don’t recognize as friendly to Berk.” He stroked his beard. “Perhaps it’d be best if you made your way back to port. We have enough fish to last us a while, and I don’t wish to risk people and ships without good reason.”

“Aye, Chief, we’ll set sail back to Berk with what we have now.” Agnar seemed rather relieved as the rest of the crew rushed to make their preparations.

As everyone began to cut the two ships loose and set on their respective journeys, someone tapped Hiccup’s shoulder. He turned to face Astrid, her face serious.

“Oh, hey, Astrid.” Hiccup gave her a small wave and tried to will away the prickling in his cheeks that hinted at a blush.

Astrid brushed her bangs to the side, trying and failing to tuck them behind her ear. “So, a dragon attacking ships, huh?” She looked neutral, but Hiccup could hear the concern in her voice.

Hiccup shrugged. “We don’t know for sure that this is a dragon.” The dragon could’ve just stumbled on its wreckage and poked around out of curiosity, after all. Not many dragons could sheathe their claws. A wobbly piece of wood would require them to hold themself steady on it, anyways.

Fishlegs raised a hand. “But if it is, it’s probably a Thunderdrum or Mudraker.”

Astrid tilted her head. “So, any reason why either of those would attack a ship without being threatened?”

Hiccup thought through what he knew about them, and beside him he saw Fishlegs’s face shift into an expression of thoughtfulness as he did the same.

“Barring a Red Death kind of situation,” Fishlegs began, his normal stammer and nervous tone faded into contemplation, “perhaps it doesn’t trust humans after years of being at war with them. Or perhaps it’s still under pressure from other tribes.” He shrugged. “Maybe there’s competition between it and Vikings for fish and there’s some kind of shortage, leading it to defend its territory. Kind of hard to tell without witnessing the attack ourselves.”

“Well, we have to hope that this was a rare event.” Hiccup didn’t like the idea of Vikings and humans fighting, for any reason. And if anything should happen, the Vikings would defend themselves, no matter what Hiccup said. And if the dragon didn’t understand Norse and Hiccup couldn’t speak Dragonese, communication would be impossible.

Especially when a bunch of angry Vikings were sticking swords and axes into its side if he tried to ask why it was attacking ships.

“And pray it really doesn’t have fire.” Astrid’s voice was grim; she likely knew that if their ship caught fire far from land and grew uncontrollable, they’d be in a lot of trouble without their dragons. Even if the twins really were following them, one Zippleback couldn’t really do much to stop a fire or airlift so many people to safety.

“Hiccup, if that dragon attacked, do you think you’d be able to find out why and stop it?” Astrid asked this with the air of a commander making a plan.

Hiccup shrugged. “Perhaps, if it understands Norse. If it doesn’t, and the usual tricks won’t work on it…”

The expressions on Astrid's and Fishlegs's faces let them know they received the implication loud and clear.

“Then we’ll have to hope that we don’t run into it.” Astrid shook her head.

Fishlegs paled. “But what happens if we do?”

Astrid and Fishlegs both turned to him, hopeful looks in their eyes. 

Hiccup tried to sound as confident as he could as he racked his brain for something that wouldn’t go horribly wrong. “We can’t let the others kill it, but we can’t just let it sink us.” The other option? “We have to restrain it until we figure out how to stop it from attacking ships.”

“Restrain?” Fishlegs’s voice went a little wobbly. “How are we going to do that? Mudrakers are, like, a solid six on the height scale.”

“Meaning?” Astrid prompted.

Fishlegs tried to measure himself by placing his hand next to the top of his head. “About twice as tall as I am? Maybe taller. And Thunderdrums? They’re about as big as Monstrous Nightmares, maybe larger, and travel in groups!”

Hiccup nodded as he tried to bring this all in. “So what you’re saying is that they probably won’t be able to fit on the deck.”

“And if you keep them in the water, they’ll likely be able to capsize the ship.” Astrid’s eyes were fixed on nothing, flickering from side to side. Her gaze refocused and she looked between Hiccup and Fishlegs. “So we’re going to have to hope we miss it, and come back and investigate with our dragons later and hope it’s still around to help.”

* * *

 That night, Hiccup couldn’t sleep. He’d already been trying to come up with a plan to convince the other tribes that they didn’t have to kill dragons. While Astrid had her doubts, Hiccup suspected that singling out the most peaceable of the Peaceables for a personal demonstration was their best bet. Now on top of that, he was also trying to come up with a plan if they were unlucky enough to run into this dragon apparently attacking ships.

For a while, he tried counting stars. Usually on nights he couldn’t sleep, he’d sit under the skylight in his room and watch them flicker as they traveled the paths the gods had set for them.

But tonight even their distant glimmers couldn’t soothe the mess in his head. He tugged his head under the blanket, shielding his face from the cold wind blowing over the deck, and tried to pretend the deep breaths came from Toothless and not the other sleeping Vikings, that the gentle rocking was just his imagination.

However, the air underneath the cloth quickly grew too stale. Within moments, Hiccup was forced to stick his nose out from a corner of the covering and back into the cold.

His mind still raced.

Finally he sat up, all attempts at resting put aside for the moment. He checked to make sure his father was sleeping. Stoick was as still as a rock and snoring as loud as a farmer’s loudest and most obnoxious prize pig with a cold. Good. He reattached his prosthesis and began to pace the deck, keeping his footsteps light as he was the only one awake besides the night watch.

No, the night watch was asleep too. Snotlout had insisted on taking the first shift, Hiccup knew for sure. He’d been bragging that he was going to be the best night guardsman all night right around sunset. But the ship rocking gently off the shore of some small, uninhabited islet must’ve lulled him to sleep, because he was sitting on a barrel, head resting on his own shoulder and mouth gaping wide open to the skies.

Hiccup almost woke him up. He was reaching his hand out to shake his shoulder when he remembered that Snotlout had been quite busy all that day. While everyone onboard had been doing some kind of work, he, Astrid, and Fishlegs had been given smaller, easier tasks, from keeping watch to swabbing smaller corners of the deck.

Snotlout, though, had been insisting on helping load the ship, carrying heavy boxes and trying to show off to everyone around. While he shouldn’t have taken the shift if he wasn’t able to stay awake and alert through it, and falling asleep when he was supposed to be on duty was risking a lot of people, Hiccup couldn’t help but feel like Snotlout should get a little rest, especially since he wouldn’t let himself take it easy.

So, instead, he glanced at the moon to get a general sense of the time and paced quietly, scanning the waves for anything that looked threatening.

About five minutes after he began his watch, he heard a slapping sound as something emerged from the water.

His mind immediately jumped to whatever dragon had wrecked the ship Agnar and Starkard had seen. He took a breath to shout for everyone to wake up.

_“Hello.”_

The greeting was in Dragonese, but not in a dialect that a Thunderdrum or Mudraker might use. No, this voice belonged to a Night Fury.

Hiccup looked down into the ocean. It was hard to see black scales against dark water, but the bright green eyes caught the moonlight and gave Toothless away.

“Toothless?” It took all of Hiccup’s self-control not to shout the name. He wasn’t exactly expecting his best friend to show up in the middle of the ocean. “What are you doing here?”

Toothless tilted his head as he seemed to consider how to explain with what little Dragonese that Hiccup knew.  _“You went.”_ Toothless said another word Hiccup didn’t recognize. Given that Toothless slapped the side of the ship with his claws as he said it, though, Hiccup could guess what it meant.  _“Ruffnut and Tuffnut followed your ship.”_

Well, now Hiccup knew for sure that Zippleback was Barf and Belch. One the one hand, that made things easier. On the other…

“Well, that’s just great news.” Hiccup huffed and shook his head. “Thanks for letting us know.” Then a thought occurred to him. “Hey, I don’t think I told Gobber or Dad about speaking Dragonese.” He’d meant to, but with the meeting keeping everyone busy and preoccupied the right moment to bring it up never really came around. “Does anyone even know you’re gone?”

Toothless’s response was his gummy smile, with his eyes extra large as if nervous, or pleading. _“No.”_

Hiccup shook his head. “Gobber’s going to kill you.” He sighed. “Dad’ll probably help, too, after this whole mess.”

Toothless’s ears pricked up and said a word in Dragonese that Hiccup guessed probably was along the lines of  _“What?”_

Hiccup shrugged. “There might be a dragon going around attacking ships. Not Berk’s.” At least not yet. “Fishlegs thinks they might be a Muckraker or a Thunderdrum. Heard anything about that?”

_“No.”_  The way that Toothless’s ears flattened back slightly, his pupils thin, suggested that whatever dragon was breaking ships was going to regret it once Toothless gave him a word.

_Wait a minute…_  Hiccup felt his mind spark to life.  _Toothless can speak Dragonese!_  His presence would definitely help if they ran across that dragon.

_But we’re not guaranteed to meet them on this trip,_  he reminded himself.  _If we don’t and arrive at the Thing with Toothless still around, we could be in big trouble._

And then a question came to mind.

“Toothless, how did you even swim so long? And why did no one see you?” It wasn’t as if Toothless wasn’t a good swimmer, but Hiccup couldn’t really imagine him being able to swim off of Berk without anyone, dragon or Viking, spotting him, even at night. He was hardly as fast as a Tidal Class dragon underwater, after all. And even if he tried swimming underwater to hide from Vikings and dragons alike, he’d still need to come up for air once in a while.  

Or did he? Back during the Battle of the Red Death, he vaguely remembered Toothless screaming underwater as Stoick had pulled him back to the surface. However, when his Dad had saved the Night Fury, he hadn’t needed to cough up water or gasp for breath at all. Hiccup hadn’t had the time to think about it at the time, and then life had been so hectic afterwards he’d almost forgotten about it.

“You can breathe underwater?” Hiccup made sure to keep his voice quiet, despite his surprise.

_“Yes.”_ Toothless nodded, creating a small splash. Hiccup winced and checked behind him, but the noise had been too faint to wake anyone on board.

Hiccup wondered how he managed it. Did he have gills like a fish, or did he absorb water with his skin like frogs? Since Toothless had scales, not rubbery skin, he guessed it was the former. Did other dragons that didn’t belong to the Tidal Class have gills, too?

He put that series of questions aside for the more pressing topic at hand. “Bud, you think you can cling to the bottom of the ship for a while? Because if we see that dragon and it is the one responsible for destroying ships, I think I’m going to need your help to talk to them.” It wasn’t the best solution, but it wasn’t like Hiccup could come up with a better plan. He’d hide Toothless in the storage below the deck if he could, but even if Hiccup could sneak him past all the sleeping Vikings without waking them up, there’d still be the issue of the Vikings going in and out of storage. He couldn’t keep everyone but him out altogether without raising suspicion, and the other Vikings would light lanterns to see the supplies they’d gone down to grab, so Toothless couldn’t just blend in with the shadows. But if Toothless could stay underwater indefinitely, and he could drop food into the water to keep him fed…

Toothless perked up and nodded.  _“Yes.”_

Hiccup smiled, feeling the weight of at least one issue vanish from his shoulders. “Great. And just one more thing.” He tried to make himself look stern. “When we get to the Thing, stay hidden. Even if you think I need help, if I'm in danger, please don’t come after me.”

Toothless’s face went from loose and happy to set in a glare.  _“No.”_

Hiccup huffed. His plan had been going so well. “Please, bud. If something goes wrong, I don’t want you getting hurt too.”

Toothless snorted like a yak refusing to leave its favorite grazing spot and shook his head.  _“No.”_

Hiccup ignored the sinking feeling in his gut that said he was as good as fighting fate and instead tried to channel his father’s disapproving scowl. “I mean it, Toothless. If the other tribes catch you, they’ll kill you.” He’d been very lucky Stoick or another Viking hadn’t immediately killed Toothless during the events of the kill ring. He didn’t want to risk it again.

Toothless’s snort made Hiccup think he’d probably like to see them try.

“I mean it, bud. These aren’t just Vikings. They’re called ‘Berserkers’ and ‘Murderous’ for a reason.” The Berserker Tribe may be led by a man called “Oswald the Agreeable,” but Stoick’s tales had painted a man who’d been more antagonistic in the past. Antagonistic enough to kill a dragon on sight. And the Murderous Tribe surpassed them in ferocity and bloodlust toward enemies, humans and dragons alike. It’d probably been a small miracle they agreed to attend a peaceful meeting in the first place. While Hiccup was certain that he could make everyone see sense if he just came up with the right strategy, there was still an element of risk. He would accept the consequences if they turned against him. His best friend, however, wasn’t a price for peace he was willing to pay.

Toothless’s ears twitched and his eyes narrowed. He made a noise that Hiccup immediately translated as, “I know and I don’t care” without even understanding a single part of it.

Hiccup sighed. “Fine. If you insist on saving me yourself, just let my dad know if you’re going to do it.” Perhaps Stoick would find a way to stop Toothless from coming after him himself while still being able to help him.

Toothless didn’t completely relax, but at the very least his pupils weren’t slits anymore, and his ears weren’t as flat against his head.  _“Yes.”_

“Okay.” At the very least that would be taken care of. “You’d better go hide before anyone catches me talking to you. I don’t want to have to explain to my Dad that I’m talking to my own reflection.”

Toothless made a soft burbling sound that he associated with dragons laughing. With that, he slipped back underwater without a sound.

A yawn struck Hiccup, which almost startled him back awake. He glanced back up at the sky. It was almost time for the next watch to take over, and high time for him to try and get some sleep. Before he returned to his spot, he stopped to shake Snotlout’s shoulder.

Snotlout flew to his feet as his eyes snapped open. “I’m not sleeping!”

Hiccup winced, but all that happened were a few sleeping Vikings mumbling and tossing in response.

“Oh, Hiccup.” Snotlout scrubbed at his eyes and scowled at him. “What do you want?”

Hiccup let irritation at being snapped at fade when he realized that Snotlout was probably grumpy from exhaustion. “Next shift begins soon,” he whispered. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

Snotlout scowled in response, but he made no protest as Hiccup went back to his blankets and settled himself in for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that this took longer than usual to upload. Something happened recently that left me not feeling up to posting finished chapters on the usual day. Furthermore, I decided to rewrite a good chunk of the last part of this chapter when I decided it wasn't as good quality as I hoped. 
> 
> Furthermore, the next chapter may be similarly delayed as I have to rewrite parts of it, as well as the following, to fit new events added to this chapter. I will do my best to have it up on next Wednesday as has now become habit, however.
> 
> Thank you for your patience and understanding.


	6. The Calm and the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A delay on the way to the Thing causes more than one problem to raise its head.

Hiccup wished that it could literally be smooth sailing the rest of the way to the Thing. They could concern themselves with getting there and calming the other tribes down, Hiccup could see about introducing a few more rational Vikings to the idea of peace with dragons and wing it from there, everyone could go home happy. He and his friends would relax a few days, and then set off to find out if a dragon was behind the ship’s destruction.

The gods, however, never asked his opinion.

And so the next morning, Hiccup woke up to hear the entire ship muttering with both irritation and nervousness.

They’d been becalmed overnight.

Usually, this wasn’t quite a problem. Viking ships had oars, you could row until the becalming ended and then unfurl the sails. It was slow going and a lot of work, but at least you were moving.

But Hiccup could tell from Stoick’s scowl at the horizon that this was a delay that they couldn’t afford. And if they were becalmed too long, the other tribes might suspect that the Hooligans were skipping the meeting, or at the very least not giving it the attention it deserved. It would not be the most auspicious start.

Hiccup had his own worries, too. Big, dragon-shaped worries. Toothless, being flightless, couldn’t catch his own food. He was too slow and clumsy a swimmer to fish well while underwater, and didn’t have his flying harness so Hiccup could help him hunt. He’d been sneaking salted fish overboard whenever he could, but he could only give Toothless very little so that no one would notice the supplies dwindling faster than expected. If the becalming lasted too long, Hiccup would have to choose between revealing Toothless’s presence and having a sick friend.

As the cherry on top, he was already turning around the twin and Zippleback situation around in his head, trying to figure out what to do about it. Hiccup hadn’t mentioned that to anyone yet. If he did, that would would force him to reveal how he knew and risk revealing that Toothless was still there. Even if he had, what could they do about it? It wasn’t like they could fly up to scold them, or that they’d listen to anything they signaled up to them. Thor help them all when the twins decided to make themselves known.

“Chief! Approaching dragon!”

And here came yet another problem. Hiccup was starting to understand why Stoick often needed to use ice blocks for headaches.

Stoick signaled Mulch over to take over the helm. Mulch had barely gotten within arm’s reach of the rudder when Stoick let go to march over to Fishlegs’s mother. “What kind?”

She squinted through the spyglass. “Thunderdrum.”

Hiccup swallowed, his throat feeling tight. He glanced over at Fishlegs and Astrid, who were both leaning over the side and searching for this dragon. Fishlegs was deathly pale, while Astrid had her face set in a grim expression.

As Stoick took the telescope and raised it to his eye, Hiccup squinted in the direction they were facing. Without a spyglass of his own (and he noted to himself to pack that next time) it was harder to see, but finally his eyes caught on a growing dot flying just over the horizon.

“Everyone, ready!” Stoick barked. “Brace yourselves!”

Over the ship, the Vikings reached for weapons, but didn’t unsheathe them. Hiccup desperately hoped they wouldn’t need to.

“Now would be a good time for a plan,” Astrid whispered, her eyes never leaving the speck.

Hiccup took a deep breath. Yes, he did, but his confidence that he and Toothless would somehow be able to talk sense into the other dragon dwindled as they approached the ship. What if things went wrong? If they did, his best idea was to scratch him under his chin and pray to Thor it’d work.

Instead of stating this and disappointing her, he shrugged. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” Which was the opposite of how he felt, but fake it until you make it, right?

Astrid didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t say anything else about it.

As the dragon approached the ship, Hiccup confirmed that he, indeed, seemed like a Thunderdrum. He seemed smaller than he was expecting, and could have squeezed onto the deck if he wanted to, so he guessed he wasn’t yet an adult.

Just as the Thunderdrum approached bola-throwing range, he tucked his wings in and plunged himself into the ocean, leaving nothing but waves in his wake.

Okay, now was probably time to get Toothless up on deck and ready to translate.

“Toothless!” Hiccup felt the eyes on the back of his neck as he leaned overboard to shout his dragon’s name and tried to ignore the nervousness gnawing at his stomach from the knowledge that the confusion would soon turn to anger.

But Toothless didn’t surface.

For a moment, everything was still behind the ripples caused by the Thunderdrum’s dive. The air seemed to hang stiff with tension as the Vikings waited for him to make his next move.

And then the water to the back right of the boat began to froth and bubble as something began to move underneath its surface. Hiccup took a deep breath to calm himself. He’d just have to do this on his own, or at least buy time for Toothless to get there.

And then, in a cloud of water droplets and angry draconic roars, two dragons burst from the water’s surface.

Or rather, one dragon flying with another clinging to his side.

The first was the Thunderdrum that had been approaching, screaming in anger and trying to dislodge his unwanted guest. The other was a flurry of black scales and furiously beating wings, with a distinctive screech that could only belong to one dragon.

“What’s Toothless doing here?” Hiccup winced as Bucket’s voice carried over the deck for everyone to hear.

He didn’t have to turn to feel his father’s eyes on the back of his head. Yep, after this he was dead for sure. 

The Thunderdrum lurched. He dove. He swerved, and veered, and bucked. Nothing, however, could throw Toothless. He’d only gotten one permanent claw-hold. That, however, was enough to allow him to cling on with all the tenacity of a mountain goat, the other three legs scrabbling at his sides and dropping ocean-blue scales into the ocean. While the Thunderdrum seemed capable of flying with the added weight, the fact that Toothless was clinging to one side affected his balance and how well he could move that wing.

Whatever the reason, the Thunderdrum finally fell to deck, sliding along its surface and into its port wall. The wooden barrier cracked threateningly but didn’t give. The ship's rocking from the sudden weight made Hiccup stumble, and he grabbed for the ship’s opposite side. A giant wave of salt water sloshed over the deck, running along the wood and making walking treacherous.

 _Oh, for the love of Thor, how am I supposed to break this up and then get the Thunderdrum to listen to me now?_   Hiccup thought as the water now running along the wood soaked into his boot and made his foot cramp. He started to move away from the dragon fight, taking small steps and clinging to the ship’s side. He grimaced as his boot squelched with every move of his right foot, but forced himself to keep gaining distance from the flashing claws and lashing tails.

A bellow caught Hiccup’s attention, and Hiccup looked over his shoulder just in time to see the Thunderdrum ram his horn into Toothless’s stomach.

“Toothless!” Hiccup startled himself with his own shout. He clutched the ship’s side for as much grounding as stability. He could tell that splinters dug into his skin, but that seemed distant, as if happening in his imagination.

Toothless grunted and staggered back, his breath a wheezing sound. Hiccup saw no blood pour from his stomach, though; the Thunderdrum’s curved horn must not have gotten past his scales. Toothless was still winded, though, and the enemy dragon spread his wings and opened his mouth, ready to roar.

And that’s when Stoick raced up to the Thunderdrum and punched him in the jaw.

The force would’ve broken any Viking’s chin, but the dragon just lurched sideways, colliding with the wooden barrier again. He didn’t get a chance to recover as Spitelout and Phlegma jumped over Toothless’s tail and tackled him down into the deck.

Hiccup let himself breathe again. The dragon was contained, and it looked like he wasn't injured beyond possibly a bruised jaw and some missing scales.

And then the pile of Vikings and dragon began to rise.

The Thunderdrum stood up, lifting Spitelout and Phlegma with him. The motion was so smooth it had to be almost effortless, despite his spindly legs.

And then, with a shake of his head, Spitelout and Phlegma went in two different directions.

Before anyone else could react, Toothless launched himself at the Thunderdrum again, this time landing squarely on his back rather than near his face. He staggered, but didn’t collapse. He opened his mouth to roar again, but Stoick launched himself into the fray, pinning his head to the deck. The Thunderdrum tried to run forward, but Stoick dug a foot into a crack in the ship’s side. The Thunderdrum still gained ground, but much slower.

 _We need to stop that dragon from breaking free and destroying the ship before we can talk to him,_ Hiccup thought, forcing himself to take deep breaths.

He looked around for inspiration, only to spot the other Vikings. They were lingering nearby, eyes fixed on the Thunderdrum.

Their weapons were unsheathed.

“Today just gets better and better,” he murmured to himself. Now he had to find a way to safely secure the dragon before he either got free and destroyed the ship, or before the Vikings found an opening and attacked him.

And that was when he remembered the fishing nets.

Hiccup forced himself to turn from the main battle and duck through the crowd of Vikings, anxiously crowding the middle of the deck like they were waiting for an order of attack.

“Hiccup!”

Astrid’s voice caught him off guard. She, followed by the other teens, ran up to him. All of them looked concerned, even Snotlout.

“Remember the idea of catching the dragon with fishing nets?” Hiccup asked.

Fishlegs bit his lip. “Are you sure it’s going to work? That dragon looks really strong, even for an adolescent Thunderdrum.”

“No.” Rope was hardly the most used material for trapping dragons, due to the dragons’ strength and the nets’ flammability. “But we can’t just let them kill that dragon. There’s got to be a way to stop this fight that doesn’t involve hurting or killing anyone.”

“I’ll help.” Astrid nodded and stepped forward. “Snotlout, Fishlegs, you try calming everyone else down.”

Hiccup didn’t wait to hear their responses. Instead, he scrabbled for the hatch that led into the belly of the ship and pulled it up. There was no time to deal with the rope ladder; instead he jumped down. While he tried to land with most of his weight on his right foot, he still ended up wincing when it jostled his prosthesis.

He forced himself to ignore the feeling and walked deeper into the storage area of the ship. Stacks of barrels and boxes loomed in the darkness, barely visible from the light let in by the hatch. Behind him, he heard a soft thump as Astrid followed him in and began to search the other area of the ship.

It took a minute to find the nets, folded neatly on top of a box near the stern. Hiccup shouted to Astrid that he’d found it, and she ran over to help him carry it to the rope ladder.

It was awkward to move up onto the deck, but they didn’t do too badly if Hiccup said so himself. As soon as his feet touched solid deck, he glanced over at the struggle. The Vikings hadn’t attacked yet, and Phlegma and Spitelout had joined Stoick and Toothless at pinning the attacker down, but they were still moving, and the Vikings looked ready to defend themselves and their ship at any cost.

Astrid took one end of the net and he took the other, and they wove through the crowd as fast as they dared. The moment they passed the edge, he and Astrid both took an edge and struggled to unfold it.

“Dad, Toothless, get ready to move,” Hiccup shouted as he tried to figure out which way to flip his side of the net to untangle it.

“And let the beast destroy our ship?” Spitelout shouted as he was nearly knocked aside by a blue wing to the chest.

“I hope you know what you’re doing!” Stoick, of all Vikings, sounded like he was struggling to keep pressure on the dragon’s head.

It took a moment for him and Astrid to finish spreading out the net, their own nerves their worst enemy as they struggled not to drop or further tangle it. As they finally spread it out, Hiccup glanced between the net and the dragon.

“Astrid, let’s fold it in half.” It seemed a little strange to say that after all their effort toward unfolding it, but he had a feeling it would be the best idea.

Astrid squinted at the net. “Think this’ll be big enough?”

Hiccup nodded. “You could fit a yak into this. Anyways, all we really need to do is pin his mouth, legs, and wings. If he can’t move those…” He trailed off as he saw the doubt vanish from her face, replaced by determination.

“Got it.”

They folded the net in half, then held it out, ready to cover the dragon’s torso. He glanced at Astrid. She nodded at him a single time.

“Now!” Hiccup shouted.

The back of the ship exploded with motion. Toothless leaped onto the wooden dragon tail that arched from the stern. Stoick leaped back from the dragon and rolled aside. Spitelout and Phlegma staggered back, letting the Thunderdrum’s resistance boost their escape.

Hiccup felt his heart race as he and Astrid ran forward and slammed the net down on the Thunderdrum before he could escape. He stood up anyway, and Hiccup felt the net dig into his skin as he pulled it with him.

Then suddenly, two more hands held the net, and Stoick was holding it down. Over on the other side, Phlegma was helping Astrid keep her end in place.

“Well done, son.” Stoick’s tone was still practical, but from the nod he gave Hiccup he knew his father meant the praise. “Let us take it from here.”

Hiccup backed up, and Astrid did too. Bucket and Mulch ran up, as well as Spitelout, and together the five managed to wrap the net entirely around the Thunderdrum, tying the two ends together to keep it in place. When they stepped back, the Thunderdrum continued to thrash at full strength. He could hardly do anything, though. His wings were pinioned to his sides, and his legs were trapped between his belly and the net. The net was positioned in such a way that his lower jaw could only move a little, not nearly enough to allow him to use his normal sound attack.

The deck erupted into a cheer as the net held tight, no matter what the dragon did. Swords were raised in salute, helmets were tossed, backs were patted. Hiccup found himself staggering back and forth as if in a strong storm as many of these were directed his way.

Stoick raised a hand after a moment, and everyone fell into an expectant hush.

“Can anyone tell me why this dragon was attacking us?” Stoick asked. He jabbed a finger over at Toothless, standing on his haunches on the sternpost. “And why Toothless is not on Berk like he’s supposed to be?”


	7. The Mystery of the Enraged Thunderdrum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ship may be safe, but the Thunderdrum's attack has raised more questions than answers.

Stoick pinched his nose. “So the twins are following us.”

“Yep.” Hiccup nodded and resisted the urge to mirror Stoick’s gesture.

Stoick sighed and shook his head. “And there’s no chance of convincing them to go back home, is there?” He didn’t sound like he was holding out any hope for a “yes.”

Hiccup shrugged. “If you have any ideas, I’m all ears.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me because…” Stoick narrowed his gaze at him. While Hiccup still felt nervous of admitting the truth, that glare put to rest any thoughts of not admitting the truth.

“Because I knew you were against Toothless coming with us, but I also didn’t want you to send him away when he could help us find out why that Thunderdrum is attacking ships.” He shrugged and tried to continue meeting Stoick’s eyes.

With a hand to his forehead, Stoick cast his gaze across the ship to the Thunderdrum. Ever since he’d been captured, he’d thrashed and tried to free himself from the net. Fortunately, it’d held out so far. But Hiccup knew that even if the material could withstand days of preventing that dragon from breaking free, this couldn’t be a permanent solution.

“Look,” Stoick said, his words heavy. “I want a peaceful solution to these sorts of things as much as you do. Every conflict resolved without death or injury is a victory in my book. But there was no guarantee that we would’ve found that Thunderdrum, and no guarantee that you and Toothless could reason with him.”

“But if there is a chance of finding a peaceful solution to this, shouldn’t we at least try?” Hiccup tried to keep his voice from rising. He couldn’t just… just sit there and do nothing while dragons and humans were fighting. Not anymore.

Stoick pinched the bridge of the nose, looking for all the world like a man who’d just been charged with wrangling Fenrir with his bare hands.

After a moment, Stoick spoke up. “Under ordinary circumstances, son, I would say you’d be right. But this situation is more complicated than that.”

Hiccup frowned. Sure, he understood the need to prevent any wars from breaking out, and he knew that could get more complicated than just saying to the other tribes, “Hey, let’s not start a war.” But it also wasn’t complicated that extending the peace with dragons to the other tribes was the right thing to do.

Before he could ask, Stoick gestured out to the sea over the bow and continued. “When we’re at the Thing, we are more than just leaders of Berk. We become our people’s representatives. You, me, your friends, everyone here has the duty of representing the people back home, and representing them well.” Stoick’s face seemed to harden as he scanned the skies. “Which is why your friends following after us might not bode well, especially if they’re not on their best behavior.” He dragged a hand over his eyes and down his beard, visibly trying to relax. “The other tribes are already tense from trying to keep the peace and deal with the possibility of Vikings allying themselves with their oldest enemies. If they catch us sheltering even a single dragon and jump to conclusions, how do you think that’ll reflect on Berk?”

“But what if they’re interested in how we live with dragons without killing them?” Hiccup wondered why Stoick wouldn’t take the chance. It was risky, but wasn’t it worth it?

Stoick shook his head. “Think about it, Hiccup. If the other tribes believed that us working with the dragons was an act of war, they would come for all of us, not just you and Toothless. Including those unable to fight. Would you be willing to pay the price that might come from a failure to change their minds?”

A cough from over Hiccup’s shoulder nearly made him stumble overboard from shock. “Chief,” Spitelout said, pointedly ignoring Hiccup’s start. “We’ve spotted a Terrible Terror approaching the stern.”

Stoick sighed and met Spitelout’s gaze. “One of ours, I hope?”

Spitelout nodded. “Aye, according to the Ingerman boy.”

With a nod of acknowledgement and dismissal, Stoick glanced back at Hiccup. “Think on that, son.”

Hiccup swallowed as Stoick left, the deck creaking under his boots.

 _It won’t come to war,_ he told himself. Surely the other tribes would see reason in a world where no one had to die. And Berk was only behind the Peaceables with how well they got along with the other tribes. Well, Hooligans and Bog Burglars were a little on the overly competitive side, but surely even they respected that Stoick, his father, and his father’s father had all done their best to get along with their neighbors for years?

Someone jostled Hiccup’s shoulder, and once again Hiccup nearly fell over.

 _“Sorry.”_  Toothless’s brow was set into a concerned expression.  _“Are you okay?”_

Hiccup gave him a smile and hoped he didn’t look too upset. “Yeah, bud, I’m fine. Didn’t mean to worry you there.”

Toothless didn’t look too convinced.

“Come on.” Hiccup tilted his head toward the stern. “Let’s go see what message that Terror has.”

He turned and walked away before Toothless could react.

Stoick walked between the rowers’ seats, newly removed from the hold, and as close to the stern as he could without getting too near the Thunderdrum. Minutes later, a yellow Terror flew over the stern, a sealskin bundle in their jaws. They immediately hovered in front of Stoick and squawked something in Dragonese Hiccup couldn’t yet understand.

Stoick held out his arm level to the deck. The Terror paused and inspected the arm, started to hover closer, then pulled back. In response, Stoick extended his arm further from his body. That seemed to do the trick as the messenger finally lit down on his bracer. Still, they kept their wings partially unfurled and raised as if ready to take off at a moment’s notice.

Stoick held out a palm and let the dragon drop the sealskin into his hand. “Thank you,” he said, keeping his voice low and calm, and then handed the package to Mulch.

Mulch unwrapped the hide to reveal a small rolled up stack of papers. “It appears to be a message from Gobber.” With that, he offered the papers to Stoick.

Stoick paused to let the Terrible Terror leap onto the rigging, then opened the papers. “Let’s see.” His eyes glanced across the page. “He says that Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston and their dragon have left Berk, as well as Toothless.”

The rest of the ship, who’d been half-watching Stoick regardless of whatever they’d been doing, grumbled as one. Equally in unison, they busied themselves with their work with far more vigor than was believable when Stoick glared over at them.

“What else?” Hiccup asked, hoping that he’d been exempt from that dismissal.

Stoick straightened the papers. “Nothing much, really. All ships expected back have returned, so far, and Darby's made blueprints from some renovations to the dragon shelters.”

Hiccup tilted his head. “Dragon shelters?” He hadn’t recalled Stoick mentioning anything about changing them, and they were rather new for any changes.

“Yep.” Stoick brushed his hand along his beard, his eyes still fixed on the letter. “Since the other tribes are tense regarding the rumors of dragon riders, the Berk Council and I figured we had to practice extra caution in case of curious or suspicious visitors. Therefore, I commissioned Darby to draw up plans of modifications to allow us to disguise the shelters as storehouses and other more conventional buildings in case those visitors got too nosy. And from the sounds of it, they more than came through.” He glanced at the rest of the letter, and then nodded as if it met his standards. “I’ll have to let Gobber know his suspicions of where the Thorston twins and Toothless went were correct, and that we’re sending Toothless back after he’s done translating for us.” He looked at Hiccup. “Think you can handle that?”

Hiccup nodded. “Gotcha, Dad.” He tried to sound serious and responsible, not excited.

Stoick dipped his head in acknowledgement and headed back to the bow of the ship.

Hiccup glanced over at Toothless. He’d been sitting on his hind legs, chatting to the Terrible Terror who’d perched in the rigging, but as Stoick passed he said his farewell and turned to Hiccup.

“You ready to translate, bud?” he asked.

 _“Yes.”_ Hiccup could see the same excitement in Toothless’s eyes that he knew was in his.

Hiccup drew a steadying breath. “Okay, then. Let’s begin.”

As they approached the stern of the ship, the Thunderdrum began to thrash more than he already was. His yellow eyes were fixed onto Toothless’s green, narrowed as if expressing defiance toward certain death.

Hiccup felt his excitement get pushed aside by the seriousness of the situation. He got the feeling that he’d be more of a challenge to bring around to being neutral, at least, to Vikings than any other dragon he’d faced.

“Okay, bud, let’s try this.” Hiccup took a deep breath as he tried to calm his heart before speaking. “Why are you attacking our ship? Berk is at peace with dragons now.”

As Toothless translated the words, the Thunderdrum narrowed his gaze. His narrowed pupils glanced from Toothless to Hiccup before addressing the other dragon. Hiccup couldn’t understand much of what he was saying.

After the Thunderdrum finished speaking, Toothless turned to Hiccup with a grim expression. When he spoke, he spoke as if he was choosing each word carefully.

 _“He does not…”_ Toothless broke out into a thoughtful warble, partially closing his eyes. _“He does not speak --- fire –- the ship.”_

Hiccup, for a moment, was confused. Why would Toothless mention fire if there’d been none on the ship? But then, he remembered that he didn’t know the Dragonese word for attack. “Fire” likely would’ve been the closest alternative Toothless could think of on the spot.

“So he refuses to say why he attacked the ship?” He wasn’t quite confident that he’d understood right, so to hear Toothless warble out a yes and nod made him relax slightly. Despite that, though, he was still left with a big question. If the dragon refused to answer that, then how could he and Toothless figure out what was wrong and fix it?

He forced himself not to linger on the question and asked his next one. “Then will he say if he’s alone?” If Fishlegs was certain that Thunderdrums traveled in groups, then it was true. Which made Hiccup wonder why this Thunderdrum attacked, alone, especially if he was an adolescent.

Toothless turned and asked the dragon the question. The Thunderdrum’s body tensed, the spines running along their back rising as much as the net allowed them to. They snarled out a word Hiccup didn’t need Toothless to translate.

_“Yes.”_

Toothless turned toward Hiccup, his ears upright in preparation for another question.

Well, Hiccup sure didn’t believe that last answer, but what could he do about it? It wasn’t like asking again would get anything truthful out of them.

“Okay, if that’s how it’s going to be, I have just one more question.” Hiccup found that he’d placed his hands together and had used them to gesture at the dragon. He hoped that pleading looked different in dragons than Vikings. “Is anyone else behind this attack?”

Toothless’s ear flicked in surprise, but he turned and translated the sentence. Hiccup watched the Thunderdrum carefully as he narrowed his eyes. He almost seemed offended to be asked that question.

 _“No.”_ This time, Hiccup was sure it was the truth; they didn’t seem the slightest bit tense about answering the question.

Hiccup was surprised by his shoulders relaxing; he hadn’t even noticed they were tense. “Right. Thank you for your answers. I’ll, uh, go talk to my dad and see if we can get this sorted out.” Stoick wasn’t going to be very happy about the lack of results, but at the very least they’d confirmed that there wasn’t another Red Death pulling the strings. That, at least, was a mercy.

He waited for Toothless to translate that message, and witnessed the Thunderdrum snort and shake his head. With that, he turned around to meet with his dad.

“Well? What did he say?” Fishlegs’s voice made Hiccup stumble with surprise as he turned toward it.

Sure enough, he was approaching, along with Astrid and Snotlout. While Astrid looked more collected than Fishlegs was, he could tell from her wide, questioning eyes that she was still curious. Snotlout was staring at him with narrowed eyes and arms crossed over his chest, but he didn’t seem to be there unwillingly.

Hiccup gestured for everyone to follow him toward the middle of the ship, far enough away where he could speak without the Thunderdrum listening in.

“So what juicy gossip did you get from that dragon?” Snotlout crossed his arms and sneered at Hiccup, clearly not expecting much.

Hiccup made sure he spoke in a quiet voice, just loud enough for his friends to hear. “He refuses to say why he attacked us–”

Snotlout snorted and rolled his eyes. “Typical.”

“But?” Astrid prompted, giving Snotlout a glare from the corner of her eye.

“But he isn’t attacking on anyone else’s orders.” He breathed out a sigh, and saw the others relax a little bit as well. “But when he said he was alone, I’m pretty sure he was lying.” He glanced over at Toothless. “What do you think, bud?”

Toothless nodded. _“Yes.”_

“Why do you think they haven’t attacked us yet?” Astrid’s gaze was now scanning the horizon as if searching for more Thunderdrums.

Fishlegs hummed. “I don’t know. Thunderdrums do live in groups, but for an adolescent to travel alone, let alone attack a ship…” He shrugged. “It’s pretty much unheard of. The adults should’ve come looking for him a lot sooner.”

“Oh great. We could be under attack by that dragon’s parents at any moment–” Snotlout threw an arm out in the Thunderdrum’s direction “–and we’re just sitting ducks.”

“And if they see the Thunderdrum our prisoner, they’ll attack us.” Astrid tilted her head, bangs shifting to cover her right eye. “And once word about us keeping a young dragon prisoner spreads, it might risk our friendship with them.”

Hiccup felt as if his stomach had turned to stone at the thought of this. “Which is why we should work on making sure we release that dragon as soon as possible, without him sinking us.”

“How do we do that?” Fishlegs raised his hand not even high enough to clear his shoulder, as if unsure he wanted it to be seen. “If he’d told us why he was attacking, sure we could work something out, but he hasn’t.”

Hiccup shrugged, trying to make the gesture look more loose and relaxed than he felt. “Then we’ll just have to figure it out ourselves.” He sighed and gestured toward the bow of the ship. “But first, I have to go tell Dad.”

No one looked particularly happy, but no one protested as he and Toothless went to tell Stoick what little they learned.

* * *

Stoick pinched the bridge of his nose as Hiccup finished telling Stoick the facts, looking for all the world like a barrel of ice blocks couldn’t solve this headache.

“This is a fine mess that Thunderdrum has landed us in.” He massaged his temple, but it didn’t seem to calm him down any. “It’s bad enough we’ve got this becalming on our hands, but now we have to worry about hiding a dragon who doesn’t want to be there from the other tribes.” Stoick waved an arm at the sky, as if inviting the gods to come down and give their opinion on the matter.

“Is it possible we can move the Thunderdrum down to the storage area?” Hiccup asked. Not that he wanted the Thunderdrum down there, alone in the dark, but at the very least passing dragons wouldn’t be able to see him and get the wrong idea.

Stoick sighed and shook his head. “If you could get him to cooperate, maybe. But that hatch is too small to get a struggling Thunderdrum into.” He waved a hand in its general direction to make his point.

Hiccup considered. If he could scratch the Thunderdrum underneath his chin, maybe. But while the net held his jaws too tightly for him to use his roar attack, that didn’t mean the jaws couldn’t open up enough to bite a hand off. Anyways, it turned out that some dragons were immune to that trick. Fishlegs had learned that Gronckles were among these the hard way, making Hiccup very glad he’d brought dragon nip in his sleeve for the last competition before the Final Test and not relied on the chin scratch.

“But what do we do?” They couldn’t just let the Thunderdrum go without risking them destroying the ship, but neither could they just keep the dragon prisoner forever.

Stoick rubbed his forehead again, moving his helmet with the edges of his fingers. “I don’t know, son.” The lack of fight in Stoick’s tone scared Hiccup. He was so used to his father knowing everything that it didn’t really occur to him he’d ever witness a moment where he wasn’t confident of what to do and how to do it. “But rest assured, that dragon won’t come to harm.”

Hiccup nodded. He’d known that Stoick would never raise a weapon against a dragon that was harmless, either by choice or by circumstance, and so long as that Thunderdrum was trapped in the net and not able to fight, he’d stay his hand, and do his best to stay those of his tribe.

But if the other tribes found out before Hiccup could convince them that dragons weren’t the enemy, could he do anything?

“So I sent the message to Gobber.” Stoick’s voice sounded casual, with an undercurrent of _I've made my mind up_  that convinced Hiccup that whatever he was about to say was as inevitable as Ragnarok. “I told him that Toothless was with us, and that after he had a full night’s rest and a couple meals, we’d be sending him back to Berk.”

“Yes, Dad.” He wouldn’t argue this point. While he might not have agreed with Stoick’s idea to hide the fact the dragons were friendly, he did agree that Berk was the safest place for Toothless.

The question was if Toothless would listen.

Sure enough, he glanced at the dragon standing next to him in time to see him huff and narrow his eyes.

“You heard me, dragon.” Stoick’s tone wasn’t as teasing as usual. “I am grateful that you came to warn us, and that you helped us with him.” Stoick nodded across the deck at the Thunderdrum. “However, I doubt the other tribes will listen to any words of mine if they saw the offspring of lightning and death himself at the table.”

Hiccup didn’t understand what Toothless said after, but it definitely wasn’t a _“Yes, sir.”_

Stoick sighed and looked between him and Hiccup. “You two will be the death of me.”

Hiccup left Stoick to his thoughts and moved toward the center of the ship to enter his. The deck creaked behind him; Toothless must’ve followed him.

 _Okay, so find out why the Thunderdrum is attacking, and you find a way to fix it and get him to leave without attacking us,_ Hiccup thought, staring out over the ocean. _So, whatever’s wrong likely has to do with his lie. But if he’s not really alone, where is his family and why haven’t they rescued him?_

Hiccup voiced this aloud to Toothless, who tilted his head and shifted his gaze slightly down. The plates beneath his head began to vibrate as he hummed, seemingly in thought.

 _“The dragons can’t help.”_ It sounded like Toothless was frustrated at not being able to say more. _“The dragons aren’t at the ship.”_

Hiccup considered this. He agreed with Toothless that they likely weren’t nearby. “But if they’re not here, then where are they? And why did the Thunderdrum attack us when he didn’t have help?”

Toothless twitched an ear. _“The dragon helps the other dragons.”_

It took a moment for Hiccup to piece together what Toothless had meant, but when he did he felt his brain kicking itself for not thinking of this possibility sooner. “You know, Toothless, you’re absolutely right.”

Toothless nodded, enthusiastic once more. _“Yes.”_

Now all that he needed was a plan and an opening to carry it off.

And then he heard Spitelout’s voice above the rest of the crowd. “Alright, then. Who’s up for tonight’s night watch?”

The crowd muttered amongst themselves. 

Spitelout scoffed. “Well, don’t all jump up at once.”

“I’ll take first shift.” Mulch raised his hand into the air.

Spitelout nodded, his eyes still scanning the crowd. “Right. Who’s up for second?”

“I will.” That was definitely Astrid’s voice.

Well, Hiccup realized, he had his opening. As long as he could come up with a plan and have it ready to go by then, he could put it into action and have everything fixed by that night. Then his dad would have less to worry about, and Hiccup could continue preparing himself to introduce other tribes to the concept of peace with dragons.

In comparison, this was going to be easy.


	8. Flying in the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A confrontation with the Thunderdrum leads to Hiccup taking a leap of faith.

It was a struggle to remain lying down and awake until Astrid’s watch, and more than a few times Hiccup jolted awake out of a doze thanks to a warm, scaly nose prodding his ribs. But finally, he heard Astrid say something to Mulch. It must've been time for her watch, then. The deck creaked as he made his way to the front of the ship, where everyone else had set up their pallets to sleep.

Hiccup waited for a few minutes until he was sure Mulch had fallen asleep like the rest. Then he sat up, pushing the blankets off the cot. Toothless joined him the moment he did.  

As he sat up, he raised a hand to greet Astrid. She glanced around at the rest of the ship and nodded. All was clear.

That concern alleviated, he made his way toward the Thunderdrum. He’d stopped thrashing and struggling shortly after their discussion. But as Hiccup moved toward him, his eyes widened and he tensed.

“Don’t worry,” Hiccup said, making sure to hold his palms out in front of him, showing the dragon that there were no weapons in them. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

He waited for Toothless to translate. The Thunderdrum narrowed his eyes in the silence following, and then responded with wary growls. Hiccup only understood the word for humans, and “not.”

Toothless turned to Hiccup. _“He doesn’t like humans.”_

Well, that was obvious, but Hiccup guessed that that had been the closest translation of what the Thunderdrum had said with Hiccup’s limited Dragonese.

“We want to help.” Hiccup waited for Toothless to translate that, then continued. “We know that your pod can’t help you, and you’re trying to help them. You raided our ship for its food, right?”

As Toothless relayed this, the Thunderdrum’s eyes shot open. His teeth bared, his pupils narrowed until they were barely visible against their golden backdrop. His low, soft growl managed to rattle in Hiccup’s bones.

“We can help.” Hiccup tried to express with his eyes just how much he wanted to. “I can see if I can give you some supplies to take to them. But you have to let me come with you, okay? And don’t attack the ship. Will you do this?”

The Thunderdrum dropped his gaze to the deck. A moment passed. Two.

_“Yes.”_

Hiccup tried to hide the pent up breath built up in his lungs rushing out all at once. _Thank Thor he listened._ Instead, he nodded and gave the dragon a big smile. “Just let me grab the supplies and I’ll be back.”

He left Toothless by the Thunderdrum and weaved his way through the sleeping Vikings. Thankfully, no one was sleeping on the hatch–too uncomfortable by far–so he was able to signal Astrid over to help him open it without waking anyone.

“You sure about this?” Astrid asked as she brushed hair out of her face. “That Thunderdrum might be lying to get free.”

Hiccup nodded. “Yeah, but he seems to care about feeding his pod more than fighting us. I don’t think he’ll want to cause more trouble than he has to. Besides,” he added, and forced a grin, “if he does try to attack, Toothless will be able to use plasma blasts this time.” He had not just come out from the ocean this time, and would be able to fire off at least a few shots before the Thunderdrum could make a move. And everyone knew a Night Fury never missed. At the very least, it would bruise the other dragon and wake up the sleeping Vikings, even if it meant Stoick learning what Hiccup had done.

Astrid tilted her head, her expression still uncertain. “At least let Toothless swim after you. Even if he falls behind, at least you’ll have some kind of backup if things go wrong.”

Hiccup took her hand in his. “I will. But don’t worry, Astrid. Nothing’s going to happen to me. I’ll be back before you know it, I promise.” He stepped back and gently released her hand. He let himself smile, faking the confidence he wished he had.

He blinked in surprise as she kissed his cheek in response.

“I’ll hold you to that.” Her voice was gruff, but she had averted her gaze off to the side, and even in the moonlight he could swear she was blushing.

Hiccup chuckled softly and raised a hand. “Hooligan’s honor.”

He ducked into the hatch before he could inevitably mess up this perfect moment. Hidden in the privacy of the ship’s dark underbelly, he took a minute to take a deep breath and steady himself before gathering everything he could without risking the voyage. Unfortunately there weren’t any fresh fish lying around–the fishing nets were there in case of emergency–but smoked and salted fish would tide over some dragons who couldn’t hunt for a while, right?

To add in variety, he made sure to grab preserved mutton, venison, and pork. Not usually staples of a Thunderdrum’s diet, but one they could eat nonetheless.

He tied it all in a damaged fishing net and hauled it up the rope ladder. He helped Astrid close the door, noticing how very hard she was trying to act casual after that kiss on his cheek.

After one last promise he’d see her soon, he hefted the net of supplies and turned toward the stern.

As he approached the dragons, Toothless smirked. He had a knowing look on his face, and Hiccup just knew that if he understood more Dragonese he would be in for the teasing of a lifetime.

“Stop it,” Hiccup said, giving Toothless’s face a gentle shove as he passed.

Toothless’s response was to mock-laugh.

Hiccup stifled his own and tried his best to look stern. “Just you wait. If you fall in love, I’ll make fun of you in front of your crush and see how you like it.”

Toothless’s eyes rolled up to the stars.

“I mean it, bud!” He wagged a finger in Toothless’s face before setting the bundle of supplies down and kneeling at the Thunderdrum’s side. “Oh, by the way, Astrid wants you to swim after us in case anything goes wrong.”

_“Yes.”_ Toothless didn’t sound surprised; he’d probably heard Astrid say that, as relatively small as the boat was.

With that, Hiccup knelt down to untie the Thunderdrum, grappling with the knot lying beneath his stomach until he was able to unravel it. He wasted no time in grabbing the supplies and clambering on his back, making sure to avoid the spines that ran along its center.

He was hardly settled when a few wingbeats brought them up into the night sky. Within moments, the ship was hardly a speck on the horizon, visible only by a couple small lanterns.

Hiccup shifted his grip on the rope to ease the strands digging into his hands and shuffled closer toward the spines, where it was flatter and safer.

The Thunderdrum made no effort to speak to Hiccup after taking off. And Hiccup couldn’t speak Dragonese, so he could hardly start the conversation.

So they flew in silence. Well, not quite silence. The wind whipping by them, the leathery beat of wings, the breaths the Thunderdrum made every time he made a downstroke, they all filled the cold night air.

Hiccup could almost close his eyes and imagine he and Toothless were taking their nightly lap around Berk.

And that was when the sound of wings beating stopped.

Hiccup had barely registered this when the sickening sensation of falling, diving, kicked in. Only habit tightened his grip on both the dragon’s spines and the net. Both cut into his fingers, nearly enough to bleed.

His lungs lost all their air as his body hit water that felt harder than some boulders. He quickly closed his mouth, ignoring the taste of salt that burned his tongue, and ignored the water trying to force its way up his nose. His limbs flailed without him needing to tell them, trying to claw himself up to safety. His prosthetic, not built for swimming, hindered him, but still he managed to crawl his way up to the surface. Just in the nick of time, too, as his lungs finally rebelled and forced him to take a deep breath. Water that’d been trapped in his mouth went down with the air, and he choked and gagged as it made its way down his throat.

As his lungs slowly stopped their aches and complaints, Hiccup realized that his hands were empty. No dragon, no supplies.

He squinted underwater out of instinct to search for what he had dropped, but the supplies were nowhere to be found.

Instead, he saw the silhouette of a Thunderdrum-shaped dragon swimming away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the delay in posting. I had the chapter ready, but when it came time to edit I felt like I wasn't in the condition to give it the attention it deserved, between not feeling my best and having seen the third movie. But looking at how the chapter originally was, and seeing how it came out after editing, I'm glad I took the extra time to make this look better. It's not perfect by far, but still it looks a lot better than how it was, even if it's a bit shorter than I would've liked. 
> 
> Thank you for reading this story, and I hope that you're enjoying reading this as much as I do writing it!


	9. A Reckless Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More pieces of the puzzle are revealed in the process of a rescue mission.

Hiccup tried to keep calm as he treaded water. Nothing good came from panicking. Instead, he tried to run his mind through ways to escape.

The list was rather small.

Mostly it depended on someone else rescuing him. However, Toothless was out of sight, and by the time he reached where Hiccup was the ocean would’ve dragged him down. If their departure had woken up the ship and they began rowing in his direction, they’d hardly get there any sooner.

And the moment he was going to sink was getting closer. His clothes, his leg, they weighed him down, slowed his movements. And eventually, they would drag him down into the dark abyss where not even moonlight reached. His muscles were already struggling with the effort of keeping afloat. He was going to tire.

 _Well, at least I don’t have to explain to Dad why the Thunderdrum’s gone with our supplies._ Hiccup really appreciated how his mind still had the opportunity to joke at his situation.

And that was when a blur of motion caught his attention from the top of his eye.

He forced his head to tilt up, and saw a dragon-shaped figure blot out the stars. And they were diving.

Diving toward him.

“This really isn’t my day.” The salt and exhaustion had made Hiccup’s mumble more into a rasp, but it wasn’t as if he had an audience to appreciate it.

The dragon came closer, diving so low their belly skimmed the water. With a mixture of both relief and exasperation, he recognized the silhouette as a Hideous Zippleback, complete with a rider for each head.

That was all he had time to absorb, because for the second time that night something knocked the wind out of him.

The impact must’ve done something to his memory, because next he knew he was scrabbling at a warm, moving, scaly surface that wrapped around his stomach and sides, trying not to fall. 

Beyond the roar of the wind, a human voice caught his attention.

A familiar one.

“Oh, yeah! Another perfectly executed rescue, if I do say so myself.” That voice was unmistakably Tuffnut’s.

Ruffnut’s piped up in a snarl. “Only because I told Barf and Belch to fly lower!”

“Ah, ah, ah!” Tuffnut’s tone told into a mock scold. “Let us not quibble over specifics, my dear sister.”

“Oh, yes, let’s!” The sound of fighting rang out behind him, quickly followed by the sound of jaws filled with long, sharp teeth snapping at each other.

 _Of all the people to rescue me, it had to be them._ Hiccup would’ve rolled his eyes if he hadn’t lost his grip at that moment. He panicked and managed to grab ahold of the dragon’s necks again. However, one more near miss like that, and he’d be reintroduced to the ocean. And in this state, he doubted the twins or the Zippleback would even notice.

“Hey!” His voice came out as a weak rasp, and he forced himself to clear his throat and shout louder. “Hey!”

“Oh, yeah?” Ruffnut said, the sounds of fighting from all sides stopping immediately.

“Can we take this up later? I’m going to slip.” As Hiccup spoke he felt his fingers start to lose their grip.

“Oh, sure!” Ruffnut walked down Barf’s neck as casually as she might down a road on Berk to pull him back onto Barf and Belch’s torso.

Hiccup let himself catch his breath, staring up at the sky above. His arms and legs twitched and shuddered as cold wind barreled into his body and caught in his soaked clothes. “You guys really need to work on your rescue maneuvers.”

“I told you!” Ruffnut’s voice sounded like she was already back on her spot on Barf’s neck.

Hiccup could hear Tuffnut sniff above the roar of wind. “He was clearly pointing out your lack of skill.”

“Not to interrupt a charming sibling squabble,” Hiccup said, making his voice as loud as his aching ribcage allowed, “but why are you here?”

“Oh, that’s simple.” Ruffnut’s voice snapped from confrontational to almost jovial. “We decided that it so wasn’t fair of you all to go to the Thing and not us just because all your parents are going and not ours.”

“So we snuck after you!” Tuffnut sounded like he was giving Hiccup the best news he’d ever heard.

“Yeah, Toothless told us.” Hiccup paused for a moment to catch his breath. “But why are you so far away from the ship?”

“Everyone on the ship was sleeping. It was boring.” Tuffnut sounded so casual for a person who followed a ship when they weren’t supposed to. Then again, these were the twins. Doing stuff like this was kind of their thing.

“And then we happened to see you flying off on that Thunderdrum.” Ruffnut sounded way too excited over that plot development for Hiccup’s taste. “Now that, that was interesting.”

Hiccup sighed. “Well, I guess now I have to explain to Dad why I lost a dragon. Again.” He groaned as he remembered something else. “As well as some of our supplies.”

“Well, then have we got good news for you!” Ruffnut said. Hiccup looked up in time for her to point in a random direction. “Before we had to go rescue you, we saw it fly off that way.”

It felt like every muscle in his body jolted awake at the same time. He rocketed up, nearly falling off the dragon. “What?”

“Yeah, it was going in a different direction than where it was taking you.” Tuffnut had his arms crossed over his chest in pride. “Pretty sneaky. Sis, we have to take notes.”

“And you said he was flying?” Hiccup had expected him to swim the rest of the way to wherever he was going. However, it did kind of make sense; the Thunderdrum probably noticed the net that held them together was damaged and wouldn’t want to risk losing or damaging the supplies he carried.

Ruffnut nodded. “That’s what I said, so yeah!” She sounded annoyed at having to confirm this.

Okay, so perhaps this situation was salvageable.

“Okay, so first we go back and grab Toothless, and then we can follow him.” He wondered if he’d have to prompt them to listen with tales of the Thunderdrum’s abilities, but the twins didn’t seem to be in the mood to skip what could be a cool adventure.

It didn’t take long for Barf and Belch to spot Toothless, still swimming in the ocean. Fortunately, they actually used their claws to pick the Night Fury from the water rather than repeat Hiccup’s rescue.

“Toothless, you okay?” Hiccup tried to lean over Barf’s shoulder to check on him, but the wind nearly knocked him off the dragon, forcing him to retake his seat.

 _“Yes!”_ Toothless sounded happy for a dragon who’d just been picked out of the ocean like a fish. Hiccup wondered if he’d heard his scream but knew he was too far away to help.

Anyways, Hiccup caught him up on what happened. When he got to where the Thunderdrum had abandoned him, Toothless gave a snarl that even the wind couldn’t tear away.

“Remember, bud, this Thunderdrum needs help.” Hiccup hoped his voice would calm his friend. “We don’t attack unless in self-defense.”

 _“Yes.”_ Toothless’s reply was sharp and curt, but Hiccup figured that he would listen and not seek revenge.

With Toothless in their claws, Barf and Belch were flying more slowly, despite the speed and strength with which their wings now beat. Hiccup was sure, at this rate, they wouldn’t be back before someone noticed their absence.

But that didn’t matter now, right? Whether it would get them in trouble or not, that Thunderdrum needed help, even if he wouldn’t admit it. They’d just have to keep flying and hope the consequences weren’t that severe.

“Sorry, Dad,” he whispered anyways. He could already hear the lecture he was going to earn when they returned. He just had to hope Stoick would understand.

* * *

They heard the roars before Barf and Belch spotted the island.

“What’s going on?” Hiccup leaned as far over Barf’s shoulder as he could, trying to see around his head and rider. However, he couldn’t see anything that far away, especially not in the dark.

Belch hissed something. Hiccup recognized the sounds for _“Viking”_ and _“ships”_ but nothing else.

 _“Viking ships are hunting the dragon.”_ Toothless’s snarl ended in a snap of his jaws.

“What?” Hiccup chanced leaning a little further. However far he leaned, though, the island was still wrapped in the distant darkness.

“What’s going on?” Ruffnut had turned back to stare at him.

“There are Viking ships attacking the Thunderdrum.” Hiccup forced himself back onto the center of the dragon’s back, just ahead of the wings.

“What kinds? How many?” Tuffnut turned around also.

“What formation? How much food?” Ruffnut paused as Tuffnut turned and raised an eyebrow at her. “Those are good questions too!”

“I don’t know.” He and Toothless hadn’t gotten to numbers yet. But, maybe, they’d be able to find some way to communicate that anyways. He leaned over. “How many ships are there?”

Toothless made a thoughtful rumbling sound, as if humming in thought, before snorting three times. Okay, so three ships. No big deal, right? But when Hiccup asked if he recognized the ships, he made an uncertain sound. Hiccup sat back up and told Ruffnut and Tuffnut what he’d learned.

“An unknown tribe? Well, that’s helpful!” Ruffnut rolled her eyes and turned around.

“You forgot: we love surprises!” Tuffnut leaned forward, grasping Belch’s horns with a newfound excitement. “Bet you Belch and I can beat you there!”

“No way!” Ruffnut twisted around and mirrored his pose on Barf. “Barf can fly circles around you and Belch!”

“Guys, same dragon!” Hiccup shouted as he got a better grip on Barf and Belch’s spines.

From the cackling ahead, Hiccup came to the conclusion that both had just been winding him up. He sighed and told himself to try and avoid encouraging them in the future.

He knew it’d be a near-impossible task.

Somehow, Barf and Belch managed to pick up just a little more speed, their heads perking up. Soon enough, the island came into view. It started as just a spot on the horizon that didn’t shimmer with reflected moonlight, but quickly grew until Hiccup could see more details if he squinted.

They were approaching a small harbor on the shore of the island, a stony beach surrounded by sheer cliffs. In its entrance floated three shapes that resembled Viking ships, but with an unusual silhouette. They looked too pointy to be from any tribe that Hiccup was familiar with.

And flying between these ships and the island was a still-smaller dot. As small as the dot was, his roar carried over to them loud and clear. Every so often, the Thunderdrum would make a swoop toward the ships. A catapult or bola would fly toward him, forcing him to swerve and break off the attack. Still, he wouldn’t retreat.

If Hiccup was right about the Thunderdrum protecting sick or injured dragons, there was no wonder he wouldn’t just escape while he could.

“We need to get over there and help him!” Even as he said it, he felt his mind race. They were flying into battle with Vikings prepared to fight dragons. They were just three humans with two dragons, one of whom couldn’t fly, the other probably tired from carrying all of them over open ocean without a break.

Things weren’t looking promising.

Just then, Toothless roared something. Hiccup tried to listen to him, but most of the words he didn’t understand. It was something about flying, and land, and fire.

Barf and Belch burbled something in response. Hiccup nearly jumped when their back sloped to the left. They were veering to the side of the harbor, away from where they were needed.

“Hey, where are you going?” Tuffnut asked, leaning toward the battle. He gave Ruffnut a narrow-eyed glare and jutted out his jaw as if in accusation.

“No, where are you going?” Ruffnut jabbed a finger at Tuffnut’s nose. “We need to fly straight in there, not go hide!”

“I’m not doing anything, so it has to be you!” Tuffnut punched Ruffnut’s shoulder, and nearly fell off Belch when she returned the favor.

“Guys, this isn’t either of you!” And it wasn’t the time to argue about it. “I think Toothless told them to do this!”

“Where are we going?” Ruffnut stopped fighting for a moment to stare at the island they were now flying over.

“I have no idea.” Hiccup leaned over, trying to see something in the forest had caught Toothless’s eye.

Instead, he saw Toothless dropping toward the trees, wings open to slow his fall.

“Toothless!” Hiccup’s shout did nothing; the Night Fury didn’t even look back as he disappeared beneath the branches. Barf and Belch turned and picked up their pace, back toward the battle.

“Why’d Toothless abandon us?” Tuffnut sounded a lot more uncertain than Hiccup had ever heard him. “The battle’s not going that bad, is it?”

Hiccup forced himself to sit back on Barf and Belch’s shoulders. “I don’t know. But he must have a plan, and we need to trust him.” He knew that Toothless wouldn’t do that if it wasn’t necessary. He took a breath. “Okay, we need to get over there and help the Thunderdrum stop those Vikings.” _And hope that he’ll accept our help._

“Okay.” Tuffnut leaned out over Belch’s neck. “See you, Toothless!”

“See you! Wouldn’t want to be you!” And with that, the forest dropped away from beneath the Zippleback, replaced by the beach.

As Barf and Belch flew lower and approached the ships, Hiccup squinted toward them. Even in the dark, he could tell the sails were blank; white cloth showed well at night. But while they looked like the typical Viking ship with dragon skulls on the stemposts and spikes on the hulls, he couldn’t place their allegiance.

“No idea who those ships belong to,” Hiccup said as he grabbed tighter onto the Zippleback’s spine. “But we can’t let them trap that dragon.”

Ruffnut cast a mischievous smile at both Hiccup and her brother. “Aw, what’s the big deal? Whatever their tribe, we can take them easily!”

As Barf and Belch drew near, Hiccup heard a trapper shout, “Fire!” Seconds later, Hiccup felt the wind of a thrown net brush his cheek, even as Barf and Belch swerved to the side, breaking off their advance.

“You were saying?” he asked as he rubbed at his cheek. That had been too close.

Tuffnut punched the air. “It’s going to take a lot more than nets to take us, you cowards!”

“Yeah!” Ruffnut leaned over toward the ships and nodded. “You’ll never take us alive!”

Well, Hiccup hadn’t been thinking of retreating when there were dragons in need, but now he really needed to come up with a plan, and fast.

And hope whatever Toothless was doing would pan out.

But first, they really needed to stop the ships from reaching the shore. They were already almost there.

“All right, we need to slow those ships down, but we can’t get too close, or they’ll net us.” Hiccup glanced off of Belch’s wing. The ships were relatively close together, as the harbor wasn’t that big. “Barf, Belch, can you create a wall of gas without lighting it?” No Viking worth their salt would sail straight into a wall of flammable gas while riding a wooden boat. Even if they weren’t blown up, they’d still risk holing their ship in the relatively shallow waters thanks to the low vision.

 _“Yes,”_ Barf and Belch gurgled in unison. They pulled into a tight spiral down to the ocean, creating a line of sulfurous gas across the water. A couple quick wingbeats and a tight spin later, and they were adding another layer to the thick, green wall. It was a tricky maneuver; they had to maintain a level glide to avoid dispersing the previous wall with any wingbeats, breathing out the gas far enough away from the first layer to maximize the amount of area they could cover without leaving any clearer areas for the ships to use. On top of all this, they had to do this with Barf’s head constantly lowered to avoid getting any of his and Belch’s riders with the gas, which could knock a human out if they breathed in too much.

Once the third layer drifted into place, Barf and Belch glided away. Hiccup frowned and watched the Outcasts as they neared the fogbank. Thankfully, they were furling the sails and dropping their anchors to keep away from the noxious and potentially explosive cloud. However, while the night wasn’t windy, eventually the cloud would thin. And once it did, the trappers would be able to sail through it safely without needing to fear crashing or exploding.

But it turned it they didn’t need to wait that long.

A bellow in Hiccup’s ear made him turn around, just in time to see the Thunderdrum dive into the water.

“Oh, no.” And a glimmer in the corner of his eye drew his attention to something worse. The trappers on the ships were pulling out metal poles taller than their wielders, each side ending in a wicked hook.

“This ain’t going to be pretty.” Ruffnut must’ve spotted the same thing he had. “What do you say about blowing stuff up now?”

Hiccup nodded; they had no choice left. “If you can without hurting the dragon.”

As Barf and Belch spun around, diving toward the wall of gas, a muffled roar drew Hiccup’s attention to the ship in the back left of the loose formation. As he watched, the back half of the ship started to splinter. The trappers on board screamed and clutched at ropes, intact wood, each other, whatever they could grab. It wasn’t enough to save everyone on board.

But even with the destruction of that ship, many of the Vikings were preparing to spear the dragon when they next came around.

That was all Hiccup could see before he heard a scraping sound, followed by a loud explosion and burst of light. The wind in heat boosted them up higher, and when Hiccup’s eyes readjusted he saw a large fogbank where the gas had once floated. The displaced water shoved the remaining boats toward the mouth of the harbor, as well as dispersed the wreckage of the third. It threw the trappers off so that the Thunderdrum could swim off unharmed, but unfortunately he looked like he was going to make another pass.

And then a flash of purple darted out from the trees. Next thing Hiccup knew, the sails of the ship on the left were burning. Several trappers had to abandon the sides of the ship to douse them. Even from the distance they were flying at, Hiccup could hear the trappers shout, “Get down!”

“Oh, now he shows up!” Ruffnut said as Barf and Belch passed over the ships and turned around to face them again.

“Well, he’s fifteen minutes late to the party!” Tuffnut tsked as Barf created another line of gas over the water, closer to the ships. “And he didn’t bring dessert!”

Another bolt of purple flame rushed out of the forest, this time striking the same ship on a piece of hull underneath the waterline. From that far away, the blast didn’t have enough strength to hole it, but it shoved it toward the ship on its right, and away from the wreckage of the third ship. Many of the survivors had dropped their weapons and were swimming toward the other ships.

And then Hiccup saw the Thunderdrum swimming toward them.

As much as Hiccup didn’t like dragon trappers, these ones couldn’t fight back.

“Hey, guys, stop him!” Hiccup patted Barf and Belch’s back to get their attention and then gestured in the other dragon’s attention.

Barf and Belch glanced at each other, then gurgled and dove.

“Wait, why are we trying to stop him from killing the dragon trappers again?” Ruffnut scratched at her helmet. “Did I miss something?”

“They can’t fight back.” Hiccup wanted them to leave the Thunderdrum alone, but he wanted to drive them away, not kill them.

For a few seconds, Hiccup wondered if Barf and Belch were going to miss the Thunderdrum. If they did, there’d be no second chance. But then a rush of water splashed around Barf and Belch’s sides, and their wings lurched as they grabbed onto him. Hiccup couldn’t see how exactly they’d latched onto the other dragon, but they were now holding him back. Although, from how Barf and Belch kept lurching sideways toward the wrecked ship, he wasn’t sure how long they’d be able to keep hold of him.

Just as this occurred to him, a shout rose up from the trapper ships. Hiccup glanced up to see oars lowered over the ships sides. His stomach clenched for a second, but then he realized they weren’t heading deeper into the harbor.

They were leaving.

Toothless had continued his attack on the ships, his blasts buffeting them around, starting fires, creating steam that rose from the water as thick as smoke. And from the shout of, “Night Furies” rising from the trappers’ ships, the chaos and poor visibility had made the trappers think that there were more than one attacking them.

Under those circumstances, Hiccup supposed even the most reckless Vikings might be tempted to cut their losses.

“Cowards!” Ruffnut shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth to be as loud as possible.

“You heard her!” Tuffnut pointed at his sister. “Come back and fight like real Vikings!”

Hiccup winced. Now there was no way to deny that there were riders with the dragons. Hopefully these trappers weren’t in league with any of the tribes present at the Thing.

As the ships turned around, half-drowned trappers still clinging to their spikes in a desperate bid to climb aboard, Hiccup concentrated on the fact that the Thunderdrum still wasn’t stopping his attempts to destroy the ships.

“Barf! Belch!” The dragon heads didn’t look back at him, but he was sure he’d gotten their attention anyways. “Can you tell him not to go after them? We won!”

Barf gurgled toward the Thunderdrum. Hiccup didn’t understand a single word, but he could tell he was taking a long time to say whatever it was.

A curt,  _“_ _No!”_ came from underwater.

Belch joined in, with a similarly lengthy and unintelligible response.

For several minutes, Barf and Belch continued talking, with the Thunderdrum continuing to snap at them as he continued trying to get at the ships. While he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, Hiccup could tell by how much more frequently the Zippleback’s wings faltered and they lost ground that they couldn’t keep this up forever. Eventually, the Thunderdrum would break their hold. And when that happened, he could easily overtake a couple battered ships.

Just when Hiccup resigned himself to the fact that, despite how hard they tried, they couldn’t stop a mass amount of deaths, Barf and Belch seemed to stop moving sideways as fast. The Thunderdrum’s replies grew less and less spirited, until, finally, he stopped.

Barf and Belch tentatively let go. A few sloppy wingbeats managed to save them from a stall and plunge into the ocean, and they began to climb toward the sky, up near the lip of the surrounding cliffs.

Hiccup squinted into the trees. While he was sure that Toothless was in that forest, though, he couldn’t see him any better than if he was flying in the night sky. He raised a hand to gesture that all was clear anyways, just in case.

With that, Barf and Belch glided toward the pebbly shore at the far end of the harbor. Hiccup could tell, by how heavily they set down, that everything they’d been doing that night had taken a lot out of them. They definitely had to stop and rest before returning to the ship. He cast a quick glance at the moon. It was rather low in the sky, which meant that by the time the Zippleback had enough strength to carry everyone back to the ship dawn would have broken, and their disappearance revealed.

Stoick was not going to like this.

Shortly after Barf and Belch landed, the Thunderdrum swam up to them, crawling on shore with the waves. His eyes were narrowed and his teeth partly bared, but he didn’t seem about to attack. Hiccup had had enough fights tonight to last a while, thank you very much.

“He’s staring at us.” Tuffnut had leaned back to whisper to Hiccup, as if he wasn’t aware that the Thunderdrum could probably still hear him.

“I know.” Hiccup made sure to speak at a normal volume; he was sure the Thunderdrum would be upset if he continued to act like he couldn’t hear them when they were all right there.

“Is that good or bad?” Ruffnut was staring back at the Thunderdrum, but with such exaggeratedly large eyes Hiccup was sure he wouldn’t take her seriously.

He shrugged. “I don’t know.” The best they could do was wait for Toothless to come and help interpret.

Before Hiccup could wonder when his friend would be arriving, the Thunderdrum’s eyes widened. He snapped something, and Hiccup winced, waiting for the dragon to attack.

But then Barf and Belch swiveled their heads around to face behind them, and Hiccup realized that he hadn’t been looking at them.

Hiccup turned around. Out of a shallow, hardly visible cave in the cliff walls, a draconic shape emerged. A second Thunderdrum, about the same size as the one they were familiar with. But while their species was the same, they looked quite different. Their Thunderdrum was a dark ocean-blue, while this was a purple you might see in an evening sky. And while both had two ribbed wings, like most dragons, the purple Thunderdrum had a gaping hole in his left one.

Hiccup winced, and he could feel Barf and Belch rumbling in pained sympathy.

The blue Thunderdrum grumbled at the purple one. He sounded scolding, as if talking to a hatchling rather than a dragon around his own age. The purple one rumbled back, and while he stopped advancing he didn’t return to his hiding space.

“Uh, I’m guessing that this is his family?” Ruffnut asked as she squinted at the dragon. “Kind of smaller than I thought it would be.”

But while the two Thunderdrums continued their back and forth, no more came out from hiding. Perhaps they were still laying low, or somewhere else?

The cynical part of Hiccup told him it was probably darker than that. He pushed it aside and told it that there was no way to know for certain until Toothless came to translate.

And a few minutes later, he did. Toothless wasted no time searching for a safe path down the cliff; instead, he leaped off the cliff, wings spread to slow his fall in a not-quite-glide. Hiccup winced as one of his legs slid on the rocky shore, but he showed no signs of injury as he trotted up to Hiccup.

 _“Hello,”_ he said, his eyes bright and ears perked up. He looked like he was bursting with energy, despite everything.

“You took your time.” Tuffnut crossed his arms and looked away, jaw jutting in an exaggerated scowl.

Toothless narrowed his eyes and snorted at him, smoke curling from his nostrils.

Hiccup laughed. “Glad you’re okay, bud.”

Toothless looked back to him, his mouth open in a large smile.  _“You, too.”_

Hiccup smiled and slid off Barf and Belch’s back. If the Thunderdrums noticed, they were too busy arguing amongst each other to say anything. From the sounds of clattering rocks to Hiccup’s side, he could guess Ruffnut and Tuffnut were following his lead.

Hiccup tried to listen in on what the dragons were saying. Try as he might, though, he couldn’t get the gist of the conversation. Once or twice Hiccup thought he heard them talking about humans, but he wasn’t quite sure. Even if he could confirm that for sure, he had no idea about what humans they were discussing. Them? The Berkians on the ship? The dragon trappers? All three?

But it didn’t look like any of them planned on stopping their discussion anytime soon. Which meant that Hiccup had to step in.

“Ready to translate?” Hiccup glanced between the Thunderdrums and Toothless before he took a deep breath. Beside him, Toothless did the same. Hiccup could feel himself tense with nervousness, but he forced out an, “Excuse me for a minute,” anyways.

When Toothless translated it with a sound that was like clearing a throat, both dragons fixed their gazes on him. The blue Thunderdrum’s was narrowed, and while not hostile he still looked suspicious. The purple one’s were wider and softer, curious.

Hiccup shifted his weight from foot to foot and tried not to look too nervous under the dragons’ stares. “Right. Uh, I’m glad you’re both okay.” He paused to let Toothless translate as well as formulate his next sentence. He wanted something a bit better than, “Glad we didn’t all die in a burst of flame.”

The blue Thunderdrum said something in a low, deep growl, his eyes never leaving Hiccup’s.

Toothless turned back to Hiccup. _“Why didn’t you let him fire on ship?”_

Hiccup thought of how to phrase it. “It was wrong to kill them while they were fleeing. They’d stopped trying to hurt us, and it just wouldn’t be fair.”

Toothless translated. The blue Thunderdrum huffed, his fangs still bared. The purple one just looked thoughtful.

The blue Thunderdrum snarled something else, and Toothless translated. _“The humans will come. They will fire again.”_

Hiccup could see his point. If the Thunderdrum had killed the surviving trappers, perhaps they’d be safe on the island.

But then again, perhaps these trappers had allies who knew where they’d gone and what they were doing. If they hadn’t returned, then they could come anyways, seeking vengeance instead of capture.

Hiccup had Toothless relate that, then added, “Is there any possible way you and your pod can move? At least until this all blows over.”

The blue Thunderdrum snorted and growled something for Toothless to translate. _“I can carry the dragon. But the dragon can’t fly, can’t swim well. The humans will follow.”_

From the sounds of it, these two were the only Thunderdrums, as Hiccup had suspected. Which made the blue Thunderdrum ditching him make more sense. They were two kids like him, looking out for each other. And if the blue Thunderdrum distrusted humans, then he wouldn’t want to reveal where he and his only surviving friend lived. Especially if he couldn’t fly or swim to safety.

Hiccup took a deep breath and focused on his next step of action. It could either go really well, or really bad. He couldn’t see any in-between. “If you wish, there’s always a place on Berk. Our island. We’ve made peace with the dragons, and you’ll be safe there.”

As expected, the blue Thunderdrum bared his fangs and opened his mouth to reply. But then the purple one spoke up, his voice quieter than the blue one’s.

Hiccup waited for Toothless to translate, but instead he said something to the other dragon. When the purple Thunderdrum responded, looking confused, Toothless curled his tail around and extended his tailfin. Even in the dark, the gaping hole on the left side of his tailtip stood out like a broken tooth.

Hiccup couldn’t help but wince. Because of him, Toothless couldn’t fly on his own. Because of him, he’d nearly died on the ground, cut off from the sky, a fate unthinkable to him even a few months after tasting flight for the first time.

Before Hiccup could properly push his emotions to the side, Toothless nodded at him. He blinked, suddenly aware that the purple Thunderdrum was looking at him with hope in his eyes.

“Uh, what are they saying?” Hiccup became aware that Ruffnut and Tuffnut were now leaning over to him, trying to figure out everything.

“I think Toothless just suggested I found a way to help the purple Thunderdrum fly and swim again.” A bit of a daunting task, given that Toothless was the only dragon he had experience with that with, and even then he hadn’t figured out a way for him to fly alone.

But then again, he always did like a challenge. And if he found some way to help this dragon fly without assistance, maybe he could do the same with Toothless.

The two Thunderdrums drew away and spoke with each other. The blue dragon spoke in harsh growls, but slowly his temper changed from angry to resigned. Hiccup couldn’t miss how his gaze lingered on the other one’s injured wing.

Finally, the blue Thunderdrum stepped up. _“Yes.”_ They then added something that Hiccup couldn’t understand, and Toothless translated. _“We rest, then we go to ship. When the ship goes to your island, we rest there ----- you ---- his wing, then we go back here.”_

Well, at least that was something. Hiccup nodded. “Thank you.” Even though he knew Toothless would translate it, he made sure that his relief was present in his voice.

The blue Thunderdrum didn’t seem at all moved, even though his friend seemed happy. He said one last thing, which Toothless translated. _“We leave after sunrise.”_

Hiccup nodded, even as he tried to hide his wince. His dad was definitely not going to be happy about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot believe that this is three-sevenths of the story completed and posted! 
> 
> Speaking of which, this is the last chapter I have completed so far, and while I'm still working away on the rest, it's going along a bit slower than it had been previously. So after this, posting will be more unpredictable. 
> 
> Thank you for reading the story so far, and I hope you're enjoying it!


	10. Back to the Ship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Thunderdrums are safe and everyone returns to the ship, but there are still a few loose ends that need tying up before reaching the Thing.

Despite the hours of rest everyone got, by the time they left an hour past sunrise Hiccup still felt on the verge of slumping over on Barf and Belch’s back and taking a nap, chances of being pranked or not. He’d kind of expected it, since he’d been too worried to sleep after the rescue. Of course he’d been concerned about waking up to find the Thunderdrums gone or seeing the remaining enemy ships back for a second attack. But the thought of just how upset his father would be made those seem like the best-case scenario in comparison.

It’s kind of hard to get some rest when considering all the different ways you can be grounded.

Things had been going so well for the past few months. Stoick had been more patient and open with Hiccup ever since he’d woken up with a new leg and impact on his village, and when they talked it didn’t feel like they were two actors tasked with improvising when neither were good at it. But after this fiasco with him freeing the Thunderdrum behind his back, his father would be furious. Worried, yes. Furious, also yes. And for reasons that Hiccup could understand.

And he hadn’t even gotten the chance to get to the Thing and convince the Vikings dragons weren’t their enemies yet. Regardless of the outcome that would have, Stoick wouldn’t find Hiccup going against his wishes particularly amusing.

A warm and scaly nose bumped Hiccup’s hand, and he turned around, making sure he didn’t fall from Barf and Belch’s back.

Sure enough, Toothless was there. He was perched precariously on the small of the larger dragon’s back, crouched awkwardly in a struggle not to block the path of their wings.

_“Are you okay?”_ Toothless’s head was tilted, his mouth set into a large frown.

Hiccup forced a smile and hoped that it wasn’t a sad one. “Yeah, bud. Don’t worry.”

“Oh, I’d be worried if I were you.” Hiccup straightened out to glare at Tuffnut. He was half-turned around, a big smile on his face. “Stoick’s going to be so upset.”

“I know, right?” Ruffnut was sitting up straight, looking thrilled. “He might even yell louder than when we go yak-tipping!”

Tuffnut puffed up in indignation. “Wait, are you implying that Hiccup might break our record?” He placed a hand on his chest. “Unbelievable.”

Toothless snapped his jaws together, clacking his teeth in a bite to the air. Hiccup had seen dragons do this when they, or other dragons nearby, were squabbling. He guessed it was something of a rebuke to be quiet.

Hiccup reached out to pat Toothless’s shoulder to calm him down. “I wouldn’t be so sure he won’t be yelling at you, too. He seemed pretty angry when Toothless told us you had snuck off after us.”

“Toothless, you traitor!” Tuffnut threw out an accusatory finger at him, clutching at his helmet as if in disbelief.

Toothless’s response was simply to roll his eyes.

“I don’t know, bro.” Ruffnut shook her head, looking overly serious. “I don’t think he’s supposed to be here, either. Hey, maybe he’ll be the one breaking our record.”

As the twins starting arguing over who’d break whose record, a squabble that seemed to warrant multiple punches and kicks and more than one near-fall from the dragon, Hiccup tried to screen them out and focus on how beautiful the sunrise was.

It didn’t really work out well.

Since Barf and Belch were carrying three humans and Toothless on his back, and the blue Thunderdrum was flying with the purple one on his, it took a while to reach the ship. When they did, though, Hiccup had to wince. All the oars were out and churning the water at full speed, and the ship seemed to be headed in the direction the blue Thunderdrum had taken Hiccup.

As they approached, though, the rowers stopped and the anchor lowered. Even from a distance, he could see those onboard running to the side of the ship to see what was happening.

Hiccup didn’t need a spyglass to see the tallest Viking with the reddest beard was among them, and didn’t look happy.

Grounded for sure.

Barf and Belch led the way down to the ship in a calm but gentle descent, while the Thunderdrums followed more warily. Toothless bumped Hiccup’s shoulder to get his attention, then glanced at his back. Following the unspoken direction, he climbed onto the Night Fury’s neck, right where his harness would be if he were wearing it. The moment the Zippleback drew close enough to the Hooligans’ ship, Toothless leaped clear during a downstroke of their wings, clearing several heads and landing on an empty space of deck. Hiccup slid down and off his shoulders, feet meeting wood with an empty “thunk.”

The moment the ship steadied after Toothless’s landing, the twins leapt onboard as well. For all the clumsiness of their brawling, they landed on the handrail as surefootedly as cats. Their back now clear, Barf and Belch splashed down into the ocean next to the ship, the boat not being large enough to support their weight.

Getting the purple Thunderdrum onto the deck was more complicated. Thunderdrums weren’t exactly known for jumping with their small legs, and with his wing injured there was no way for him to glide clear. Ultimately, the blue one had to roll while over the ship and the purple one had to leap onto it at just the right time. The ship shook as if caught in a sudden but invisible storm, and Hiccup had to make a lunge to the railing to keep his feet. He consoled himself with the fact that most other Vikings had to latch onto handholds and each other as well. Stoick was among the few not affected. He stood in the middle of it all, feet planted firmly on the wood and watching the proceedings with a stern gaze.

The blue Thunderdrum made one large circle, then two, his eyes fixed on the Vikings below in a narrow glare. As they showed more interest in righting themselves and staring at the newcomers, he finally dove into the ocean and began to swim around the ship.

“Hiccup!”

The sound of Stoick approaching made Hiccup give a quick prayer to the gods for a quick and painless grounding. That done, he turned to face Stoick and gave him the smile that used to give his younger self a chance to get somewhat out of trouble. “Hey, Dad.”

Stoick’s expression didn’t change the slightest bit. “What were you thinking?” Stoick waved a hand in the general direction of the blue Thunderdrum. “Flying off on a wild dragon like that! You could’ve been killed!”

Hiccup winced. Definitely not lightening this punishment. “Yeah, sorry about that. But at least I wasn’t, right?”

Stoick pinched the bridge of his nose. The gesture covered most of his face not already hidden by beard. “By Odin’s ghost, son, you need to stop being so… so reckless, and acting like risking your life is fine.”

Hiccup swallowed, hoping the motion would help with the sudden feeling that some invisible force was constricting his throat. “I’m sorry, Dad.” And he was, he really was. He knew he wouldn’t change a thing even if he could, but even so, he didn’t mean to worry or disappoint Stoick in the process.

Stoick glanced around at the twins, Barf and Belch, the Thunderdrums. His expression didn’t relax, but Hiccup felt grateful that at least he didn’t look angrier. 

“Hey, Chief!” Tuffnut waved at him cheerily, as if he was an old friend who’d bumped into him on the street rather than having been caught following the ship against unspoken orders. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Ruffnut glanced around at the ship. “Love what you did what this place. The scratches in the hull really sell the whole Viking look.”

“So how much trouble are we in?” If this was anyone else, they’d be sounding nervous and on the edge of running away. But this was Tuffnut. He sounded almost eager to be yelled at.

“Oh, a lot.” Stoick’s voice had lowered in volume, but no less angry.

Ruffnut leaned over to bump helmets with her brother in triumph, causing Stoick to sigh so much that if the sail had been raised they probably could’ve sailed all the way to the Thing on it.

“What even made you all think that this–” Stoick gestured at the Thunderdrums, the Zippleback, the Night Fury, and the twins “–was a good idea?”

Hiccup had thought he’d been nervous talking to the Thunderdrums. It turned it that they had nothing on Stoick. But he stepped forward. “I figured out that the Thunderdrum was in trouble.” He explained his and Toothless’s reasoning, and how it led to their decision to leave the ship. He made sure not to mention Astrid at all, in case Stoick was upset at her too. Not that he wanted any of the other lookouts punished for not noticing their departure, but she shouldn’t pay for his decision.

He also kept the part about the Thunderdrum’s betrayal rather vague as well, but from the thunderous look on Stoick’s face as he glanced in the blue Thunderdrum’s direction, he wasn’t quite sure how successful he was about that. But when Hiccup reached the part about the ships, Stoick spoke up, his expression troubled rather than stern.

“What tribe?” His gaze was unsettling, like he was looking through Hiccup rather than at him.

Hiccup shrugged and tried to swallow down any nervousness. “I don’t know. They looked like Viking ships, but they had no images on their sails, and they didn’t look like any I’ve ever seen.”

“No clue here either.” Tuffnut shrugged, the motion loose and fluid. Hiccup couldn’t tell how he or Ruffnut could be so relaxed under the circumstances.

Ruffnut shook her head. “They were pointy,” she offered.

Hiccup nodded. “They had spikes everywhere.” Stoick’s gaze snapped back at him, his attention back to him rather than some mental image. “And dragon skulls on their stemposts.”

“Outcasts.” Stoick’s voice was almost a growl. He turned his glare to the horizon, as if searching for them.

“Oh, Thor.” Fishlegs’s voice cut through the tense silence. Hiccup silently agreed with the sentiment. The Outcasts were the archipelago’s most hated residents, more even than dragons, and for good reason. Formed from Vikings who’d committed crimes too heinous to punish merely with imprisonment but not extreme enough for execution, they carried god-sized grudges against their former kin for casting them out. 

Spitelout scoffed. “Outcasts don’t usually come out here just to hunt dragons.” He raised an eyebrow at Stoick, his arms crossed against his chest. “You sure they aren’t lying?”

Stoick turned to face Spitelout, his shoulders raised in anger. “You calling my son a liar?”

Spitelout stepped back, though the belligerent expression on his face didn’t change. “I’m not saying Hiccup is, but the Thorston twins?” He nodded at them.

“Normally you’d be right, but not this time.” Tuffnut raised his hand as if swearing an oath.

“And anyways, if you accuse us of lying when Hiccup is saying the same thing, aren’t you still saying he’s lying?” Ruffnut squinted at Spitelout.

Spitelout snorted, but didn’t respond.

“If those Outcasts are still in the area, then we’re in deep trouble.” Stoick rubbed at his head, looking like he’d rather be anywhere but there. “If they’re out hunting dragons, they’ll be heavily armed. More armed than we are. And with this becalming, we’re sitting ducks.” He glanced at Toothless, who was watching him with a head tilted with sympathy. “It seems that we’ll have to ask your dragons to stick around in case they decide to test their luck.”

“So does that mean we’re not getting sent back?” Ruffnut asked, her eyes narrowed.

Stoick sighed. “No. It’s too dangerous to risk sending you both back with your dragon alone, especially if Outcast dragon hunters are in the area.” Before she or Tuffnut could react, he pointed at the two of them, glaring so sharply Hiccup was surprised they didn’t flee at the sight. “But you aren’t to prank anyone or cause any trouble when we are at the Thing, or you’re going to be swabbing every ship in our harbor for the next five years. Every day. At dawn. On top of whatever your parents decide. Understand?”

Tuffnut gave him a salute, though any respect behind the gesture was undermined by how loose and sloppy it was. “Oh, yes, sir. We understand.”

Stoick stared at them for a moment longer before he decided the matter was out of his hands and sighed. He turned back to face Hiccup, face worn. “Hiccup, you and your friends are very lucky to be alive. You may have had the advantage of surprise on your side this once, but you cannot count on it next time. When we get back to Berk, you’re grounded. You understand?” There was no anger behind the words, just tiredness. Somehow that made it feel worse.

Hiccup nodded. “I understand.”

Stoick nodded and moved away. As he moved to the front of the ship, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut headed for Hiccup. Fishlegs fidgeted with his fingers giving Hiccup a look that was both concerned and sympathetic. Even Snotlout looked less confrontational than usual.

“Are you all right?” Astrid asked. She was staring at Hiccup as if expecting him to collapse at her feet.

Hiccup put on his most confident grin. He was pretty sure it looked more tired than he wanted it to. “Don’t worry, Astrid. I’m okay. I told you nothing would happen, right?”

She bit her lip. “Fighting Outcasts isn’t exactly nothing. I’m really glad that you’re okay.”

Ruffnut jabbed a finger at herself. “Hey, what about the people who actually did the heavy lifting?” she asked, though there wasn’t much heat in her words.

Astrid shook her head with her eyes raised to the skies, though Hiccup was sure he could see the corners of her mouth slightly raised in a barely unnoticeable smile. “I’m glad Barf and Belch are okay, too.”  

A gurgling sound caught Hiccup’s attention. He glanced over at the side of the ship to see Barf and Belch watching them, their heads bobbing and faces set into draconic grins. Whatever they were saying, Hiccup couldn’t understand, but he could hear the mirth behind the burbles.

Ruffnut shrugged, any false annoyance immediately gone for amusement. “That’s fair.”

“I don’t mean to spoil the fun,” Snotlout said, speaking loud enough to interrupt even the twins, “but those Outcasts are still out there. You saving those dragons aren’t going to matter much if they find us floating out here, all alone.”

“I know.” Hiccup wished there’d been some way to drive them off and ensure that they’d never bother any human or dragon ever again. But while they’d been in the perfect position to kill the Outcasts and never have those ones, at least, hurting anyone else, it just didn’t feel right. Especially not while they were running.

“At the very least we’ll be safer at the Thing.” Astrid placed a hand on Hiccup’s shoulder. “My mom says that even tribes under a blood-feud will come to save each other from the Outcasts.”

“But we aren’t at the Thing, Astrid.” Fishlegs’s eyes darted from place to place, as if expecting an Outcast ship to rise directly from the waves. “And we’re becalmed.”

“You certainly aren’t becalmed.” Tuffnut leaned right into Fishlegs’s personal space, squinting as if trying to determine whether or not Fishlegs was really panicking. “You’re more…be-panicked.”

“Fishface is right.” Snotlout didn’t look at all happy with agreeing as he pointed toward Fishlegs. “You can’t predict a becalming, or when it ends. Do you have any bright ideas up your sleeve to get us moving?”

Ruffnut raised her hand. “One of us could get out and push the ship to the Thing.” Hiccup could swear that he saw her grin grow just the slightest bit as Snotlout opened his mouth to make some retort. 

But the sound of water rippling distracted Hiccup. He glanced over to see the blue Thunderdrum still circling the ship, surfacing every so often to cast a wary glance at the Vikings within. He was probably trying to keep an eye on them to make sure his friend wasn’t hurt.

His friend that he’d flown there on his back. A feat he’d managed because he was strong even for his species.

“Ruffnut, you’re right.” Hiccup didn’t realize he’d said that aloud until all his friends, even Ruffnut and Tuffnut, were staring at him with jaws at various states of dropped.

“Are you okay?” Astrid was the least surprised, but even she had an eyebrow raised.

Hiccup nodded. “Be right back.” And he headed for Stoick.

His father was still glaring at the horizon where Thing Island must’ve been. But when Hiccup approached, he turned to face him. His face was still creased with stress, but Hiccup was thankful to see the frustration vanish at least somewhat as he saw him.

“Son, what’s going on?” Hiccup could hear that behind the surprise, Stoick sounded tired. He must have been up for hours before sunrise, worrying about him.

“Do we have any rope?”

Stoick blinked, the sudden question confusing him. “Rope? We’re on a ship. We have probably have more than enough for whatever you need it for.” He narrowed his eyes, frowning. “Why?”

“Ruffnut just gave me an idea.” Hiccup didn’t want to steal credit for her idea, but from the suspicious look on Stoick’s face made him wonder if he should’ve kept quiet about who originated this plan.

“If this is for a prank…” Stoick placed a hand on his face. 

Hiccup shook his head. “No, but I’ve got an idea for how to get to the Thing without the wind. At least for now.” He described the kind of rope they needed, a long and straight one, something strong that couldn’t easily be ripped through.

Stoick’s face flickered as his caution warred with hope. And then his eyes widened as he cast a quick glance at the blue Thunderdrum. “You think he’d be on board with the idea?”

Hiccup shrugged. “I don’t know, but it can’t hurt to try.”

He signaled Toothless over from where he’d been talking with the purple Thunderdrum before leaning over the side of the ship and waving to get the blue one’s attention. “Hey, bud, can you ask him if he’ll do us a favor and help tow the ship?”

Toothless leaned over and shared a few words with the Thunderdrum. From how back and forth it was, and how the Thunderdrum’s pupils narrowed, he had his reservations. But whatever they’d been, Toothless managed to put him at ease.

Meanwhile, Stoick managed to get ahold of some rope and tied them to the stempost as securely as Gordian’s knot. When he threw the resulting loop into the waves, the blue Thunderdrum hesitated. Then, with a snort, he dove after it. A moment passed, and then he surfaced, rope in hand. The ship rocked back and forth for a moment after the rope went taut, before moving in the direction that Stoick gestured.

Cheers filled the air, even as the rowers went back at their job with twice the effort.

All the energy seemed to drain from Hiccup’s body, and he found himself resisting a yawn. It’d been a long night, after all.

But before he could properly considering finding someplace quiet to lie down and take a nap, a hand descended on his shoulder to get his attention. He glanced over to see Stoick looking at him, his expression serious.

“I’m glad you came back all right, son.” Stoick’s voice was deep with what could only been relief. “When I woke up and found that you, Toothless, and the Thunderdrum were gone…” He glanced out at the horizon.

“I’m sorry, Dad.” He hadn’t expected it to get so dangerous, but he couldn’t walk away when the Thunderdrum needed help. And he knew that Stoick wouldn’t have either. As much as his father was intent on only concentrating on protecting their own, he wouldn’t sit and do nothing about people who needed help who were right in front of them, either.

Stoick nodded. “I know, I know.” He tugged at a lock of his beard. “And I am proud that you stood up for what you believed in. Though I would have preferred if you hadn’t jumped into such a dangerous situation with both feet.” He glanced over at Hiccup, a wry look on his face. “And before you say it, yes, I’m aware one of them’s a prosthetic.”

Hiccup couldn’t help but laugh a little, barely audible even to himself. “Am I that predictable?”

Stoick shook his head and laughed himself. “Well, you can't have that, can you?”

Hiccup grinned. “Someone’s got to keep you on your toes. Can’t let you get too bored with your chiefing.”

For a moment, they both laughed. Hiccup couldn’t help but relax. He’d made a big deal out of nothing, worrying about how upset Stoick would be.

But after a few moments of silence, Stoick cleared his throat. “But still, take better care of yourself, Hiccup.” He glanced at Hiccup, and Hiccup could’ve sworn his face looked more worn and wrinkled than he’d seen it. “The gods were kind with you this time. You cannot always count on having their favor.”

Hiccup shrugged. “I know. But I had to do something.” He couldn’t just ignore a dragon that needed help, even if he refused to admit he needed it.

Stoick nodded and exhaled, as he glanced out toward the dragon. “And you really came through for him and his friend today. But as much as I’m glad you resolved the situation as well as you did, it could’ve gone so much worse.”

Hiccup shrugged. “It’s an occupational hazard.”

Stoick’s shoulders tensed, just a little, and Hiccup could’ve sworn he saw something like regret pass through his eyes. “You may be willing to lay down your life for peace, son, but your life is too dear a price to pay for the first stranger you find who needs help. Too dear for me, yourself, Gobber, your friends.” He ran a hand down his face, and Hiccup could’ve sworn the gesture made him seem older, his face more creased, his hair and beard duller. “Understand?”

Hiccup nodded. “I’ll try.”

“You will.” It had all the air of a command. Hiccup couldn’t see even a god disobeying an order in that voice.

“Okay.” He nodded and looked out to the blue Thunderdrum, still pulling away at the rope.

It occurred to him that he’d never learned his name, or his friend’s.

He turned to Toothless, who’d been standing to the side with a tilted head and wide, almost sad eyes fixed on both him and Stoick. “Hey, bud, did you happen to catch those guys’ names?”

Toothless nodded. The grave contemplation turned to an expression that was more thoughtful.

First, he gestured at the purple Thunderdrum. He was currently settled toward the back of the ship, gazing at the Vikings going about their business with a wary curiosity. And he wasn’t the only one doing any observation; Fishlegs stood not too far away, staring at the dragon as if this was the only time he’d ever get to see a Thunderdrum up close.

Toothless made a sound that Hiccup hadn’t learned the meaning of, which brought his attention back to the Night Fury. The moment Hiccup was looking back at him, Toothless spun in a circle and repeated the word.

“Spin?” he guessed.

If that wasn’t the word, it was close enough, because Toothless immediately said something else. It wasn’t a word that they’d covered yet, but when Toothless extended his left wing, Hiccup didn’t need to guess.

“Spin Wing?” No, that sounded a bit clunky. What Norse word was the same as spin? “Whirlwing?” Much better, with the added bonus of wordplay.

Toothless nodded. It must’ve been a good enough translation. 

“Okay, so his name is Whirlwing.” Stoick nodded, and from how creased around his eyes he got Hiccup assumed that he was committing it to memory. “And what is his name?” He turned to face the blue Thunderdrum.

Apparently, his name was harder to translate to Norse. Toothless hummed and half-closed his eyes, an ear twitching as if it’d suddenly gotten an itch. But finally, he perked up as if struck by lightning.

Whatever Hiccup was expecting, it wasn’t Toothless bounding across the deck and peering over the rails at the shields hanging on the sides, as much for decoration as for transport. He glanced at a couple before batting at one at about the ship’s midpoint.

Hiccup reached the shield and pulled it over the rails. It was a solidly built shield, a bit worn from the elements, but fine nonetheless. Painted on it in fading colors was a representation of Thor. Or rather, just his face, frozen in a dramatic yell that made it look like he was about to sink his teeth into the metallic center of the shield. Sparks of lightning flew from his mouth at whatever had gotten him so angry. The fact that metal didn’t make a good meal, perhaps.

“Thor?” Stoick asked, his nose crinkling up.

Apparently, Toothless wasn’t quite happy with the translation, but he nodded anyway, so it must’ve been the closest equivalent. At least, one which wouldn’t require hours upon hours of Dragonese lessons to get to a point where he could explain.

Toothless then brushed his paw on the bolts of lightning coming from Thor’s mouth.

“Thor Lightning?” A bit excessive, if you asked Hiccup.

Toothless wrinkled up his nose and shook his head. _“No.”_ He then blew out a mouthful of air and beat his wings, creating a cold gust of rotting-fish-scented wind.

“Thor Thunderstorm?” Stoick sounded like he was raising an eyebrow at that one.

Toothless hummed. It wasn’t a yes, but it wasn’t a no, either. And not close enough to get a “That’ll do.”

As Hiccup wondered what could possibly be the dragon’s name, Toothless spun in a circle again.

“Thor Cyclone?” Hiccup was relieved to see Toothless shift more toward the “That’ll do” end of the spectrum.

“Thornado.”

At Stoick’s voice, Toothless nodded. It looked like wordplay was going to be the naming scheme for these dragons, at least with their Norse translations.

“Huh.” He nodded at the dragon. “Fits him, at least.” He said this begrudgingly, and Hiccup could tell that it would take him some time to forgive him for attacking the ship, and for probably sinking the other one.

Hiccup supposed that he couldn’t complain, as long as Stoick was okay with the dragons hitching a ride until they could be taken back to Berk for medical attention.

He just hoped he’d be as understanding when he revealed the truth about dragons to the other tribes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have a question for you all.
> 
> In future stories in this series, should I write the entire story before I start posting? It'll mean a longer wait before the next one goes up, but more stable update times unless something happens, like an unexpected life event or a chapter being difficult to edit. It'll probably be of higher quality as well. In theory, the gap between this story's last chapter appearing and the first of the next one's being posted will be longest, as from the second onward I'll be writing the next story in the line as I post chapters of the previous. But I could still work with posting each chapter as I finish it, after editing of course, if that's what's preferred. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you're enjoying this so far! <3

**Author's Note:**

> Constructive criticism is always appreciated!


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